Posted By:
Peter SpaethIf you are correct, and buyers were so keenly interested, they can (and would, in my opinion) just ask. Maybe they do. Or they can (and would) demand better disclosure. They haven't, as far as I know, at least not in compelling numbers.
As for your other points, I would guess you are right that most tribunals would in close cases err on the side of requiring disclosure. I don't think I have contradicted myself although of course I understand the tension. Materiality is not judged on a buyer by buyer basis but on an objective standard. Obviously some buyers want to know more than others, and there is almost nothing (for example, soaking) that SOMEONE wouldn't want to know about. So the mere fact that an auction house might not disclose grading history because SOMEONE might be dissuaded from bidding does not necessarily translate into that information being material to the objective composite reasonable buyer.