Do you think a sculpture by a pre-civilization human is worth more than something banged out yesterday?

Heritage has great value. It is one of the few things that cannot be manufactured at will.

Also, since its uniqueness holds its value, its value becomes a "strange attractor". You can put a lot of money into one of these artifacts, fairly sure to get most or more back. Since future buyers will have a similar assurance. So it isn't money thrown away, but money stored in a medium the provides satisfaction and pride.

Not so different from buying real estate in some exclusive area for some crazy price. It really isn't that crazy if you are likely to get your money back later if you want. Likely at a higher amount due to a growing economy pushing prices up.

Crazy would be spending millions on something unique then grinding it up.

Art as a tool for storing Mana: https://medium.com/luminasticity/art-as-a-tool-for-storing-m...

This is all a great way of describing why art works as a money laundering or tax evasion scheme.