Come on Guys, You Can Do Better

Ann Althouse linked to this article. It is a fascinating story, but I was struck by the following, "Ms. Gibson will receive the promised $15,000 reward from the seller, as well as a smaller finder’s fee from Sotheby’s, which the auction house declined to disclose." Let's see, doesn't the auction house get a 20% commission. That's $200,000 if the painting in fact sells for a million dollars. Surely Sotheby's can pony up more than a piddling couple of thou. In this case, I think they should split the commission more nearly 50:50.