JUST east of Tel Aviv sits a cave. It was discovered during road works in 2000 and found to contain the oldest known hearth(壁炉；火塘), around which families probably cooked meals some 300,000 years ago. Archaeologists found animal bones and primitive tools, which was not surprising. What was startling was a cache(隐藏物；贮藏) of brightly coloured pebbles that showed no signs of use(没有使用痕迹), and indeed appeared too small for any Stone Age purpose. Their value was aesthetic: someone had collected them.
在特拉维夫以东有一座洞穴。2000年修路时被发现，里面存有已知最古老的火塘，约30万年前家庭可能在此做饭。考古学家发现动物骨骼和原始工具，这并不令人惊讶。令人震惊的是，一堆色彩鲜艳的鹅卵石，没有使用痕迹，而且对于任何石器时代用途来说都太小了。它们的价值在于审美：有人收集了它们。
William Goetzmann, who teaches finance at Yale and has written extensively about art markets, suggests that the impulse(冲动；推动力) to collect “is something ancient and ingrained(根深蒂固的) in us…maybe biologically driven”. Cards, coins, stamps, memorabilia, posters: these draw obsessives(吸引痴迷者) everywhere, and for years were usually handled by small, specialist dealers.
威廉·戈茨曼在耶鲁教授金融，并撰写过大量关于艺术品市场的文章，他认为收藏的冲动“是古老且根深蒂固的……也许是生物本能”。卡片、硬币、邮票、纪念品、海报：这些物品吸引了各地的痴迷者，多年来通常由小型专业经销商经营。
Increasingly, however, auction houses are getting in on the action(参与其中；插一脚). In March Christie’s sold rock memorabilia that Jim Irsay, a late American sports-team owner, spent his life amassing(积累；积聚), including John Lennon’s piano ($3.2m), Jerry Garcia’s guitar ($11.6m) and Ringo Starr’s snare drum ($95,250), all well above expected prices. Sotheby’s, in partnership with the National Basketball Association, is holding weekly sales of game-worn jerseys until June.
然而，拍卖行越来越多地参与其中。3月，佳士得拍卖了已故美国体育队老板吉姆·厄赛毕生收藏的摇滚纪念品，包括约翰·列侬的钢琴（320万美元）、杰里·加西亚的吉他（1160万美元）和林戈·斯塔尔的军鼓（95,250美元），均远超预期价格。苏富比与国家篮球协会合作，正在举行每周一次的球衣拍卖（截至6月）。
The right stuff
合适的东西