It's crazy that Sotheby's was founded in 1744 and Christie's in 1766. There are lower tier auction houses but it's been so hard to unseat the top 2. Any ideas why?

Building and investing at Awesome People Ventures

Many collectors or traders will only trade with other reputable names. Assessing art value and truth is a very difficult thing.

The closer connected you are to the past the higher your “reputation” to assess said art, like reaffirming lindy effect. 

I imagine the network is just unbeatable.