The Highest Price in the Store

A rich American woman visited a Japanese art shop in Paris. It happened to be a dull, dark afternoon. She looked at the bronzes, jewels, drawings and other things, and finally, pointing toward a dusky corner, she said to the polite young salesman: “How much is that Japanese idol over there worth?”

The salesman bowed, and answered: “About five hundred thousand francs, madam. It is the proprietor.”