How is art valued? How do art collectors understand art and price pieces in the art market? These are long standing research questions that have been limited by data availability and by the clandestine nature of art markets. Drawing upon anthropology, economics, and sociology, the study grapples with the elusiveness of art valuation processes and tests whether these objective factors significantly affect the price-setting behavior of art collectors. By leveraging data-rich blockchain ecosystems, the paper illuminates the intricacies of valuation in the art market and serves as a first study in a longer research agenda on art market exchange and valuation processes. The inaugural sale prices of 2,553 from the same collection of art is evaluated against objective features. Results from an ordinary least squares regression model show that objective values cannot sufficiently explain how collectors decide on art prices. Instead, continued academic exploration into the social and subjective values of art is required.