The Anchoring Role of Service Intermediaries During Crises

This research examines how service intermediaries help anchor customer valuations in weakly efficient markets for singularities during crises. Using transaction-level data on 6,602 paintings auctioned by a major European auction house between 2016 and 2024, we compare pricing dynamics before, during, and after the pandemic. The analysis results suggest that intermediary valuations are closely associated with realized auction prices, with the lower estimate showing a consistent association with realized prices. Pandemic premiums are supported in three models, whereas a persistent post-pandemic premium is not consistently supported. The findings suggest an important role of intermediaries in helping regulate prices in markets for singularities, especially during crises.