Decline of the Old Masters market

Much has been said about the decline (or not) of the Old Masters market, and coupled with it the fact that you can buy good paintings quite cheap nowadays (not only comared to contemporary art, but also to the Old Master prices of ten years ago).

Many reasons have been given, including the lack of masterpieces on the market (true), and the shifted interest from the public from old masters to modern art (partly true, but especially so if you replace "the public" with "investors").

As an example, I noted the above painting, for sale at Balclis: a 16th century Epiphany, "Dutch School, circle of Jan van Scorel". It is estimated at only 3,000 Euro. "Only", as it is a good early painting, and because it sold at Christie's in 2001 for £7,050 as a "Circle of Jan Swart van Groningen" (and then it was unframed, now it comes fully framed!). The painting hasn't become any worse, the attribution, while changed, shouldn't make any difference in price, and having a "sold at Christie's" history shouldn't hurt a painting either. And still you can have it (according to the estimate) at less than half of the price it fetched 14 years ago, which is a terrible investment (if one ignores the fact that having such a painting on your wall for 14 years is priceless). Strangely, it was sold at the same auction house, Balclis, in October 2014 for 3,000 Euro. Either the buyer didn't pay, or his attempt to get a fast profit failed...

One anecdote isn't evidence of anything of course, but it's not the first time I've seen something like this.