To the Editor:
“The da Vinci Lode” (NY Times editorial, Nov. 17) is an important warning. The idea that the obscenely rich see nothing untoward in parking hundreds of millions of dollars on a rare but unexceptional painting is not just lamentable; it is obscene as well.
The sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” for $400 million, plus $50.3 million in commissions, should have everyone outraged. We have lost perspective. The concentration of wealth by the superrich highlights their indifference to the struggles of the rest of society.
The bubble will burst, and the result will be seismic. Doesn’t anyone feel the unmistakable rumbles?
STEVEN A. LUDSIN
EAST HAMPTON, N.Y.
R&R - Reachout and Rebuild 
I do fear this is an accurate assessment of where we are now. Well said, Mr Ludsin.
Thanks Steve for bringing this to everyone’s attention. This is a great story. I love this part from the NYT editorial:
“The more recent history of the painting is also murky. It was put on sale by the family trust of Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian oligarch living in Monaco who is involved in a lawsuit against the Swiss dealer who over the years helped him amass a huge art collection, including the Leonardo. (The Rybolovlev trust also bought an 18-bedroom mansion called Maison de l’Amitié from Donald Trump in 2008.)”
The identity of the buyer is of course secret. And this is the ending of the editorial:
“…the obscenely rich see nothing untoward in parking hundreds of millions of dollars on a rare but unexceptional painting that may well spend the next several years in a tax-free storage facility.
That the subject is the ‘Savior of the World’ makes it all the more lamentable.”
What else is new. Everyday you read something that is happening ,that is unbelievable . When will this nightmare end