The article recounts the author's personal experience as a collector who passed up the opportunity to buy a complete set of Marcel Duchamp's readymades at a 2002 Phillips de Pury and Luxembourg auction. The set, editioned by dealer Arturo Schwartz in 1964, included iconic works like *Fountain* and *Bicycle Wheel*, but the sale was a financial failure, with many pieces bought-in or selling for far below expectations. The author later acquired some of the unsold works privately. The piece is framed around the concurrent Duchamp exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and Gagosian.
This matters because it illustrates the dramatic shift in the art market's perception of Duchamp's readymades—from objects that seemed "dry and boring" to collectors in the early 2000s to works now valued in the tens of millions. The story highlights how market taste evolves, how historical context and scholarship can transform an artwork's desirability, and how even savvy collectors can miss transformative opportunities. It also underscores the enduring influence of Duchamp's work, which continues to anchor major museum shows and gallery exhibitions.