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The Mellons gifting a Da Vinci replica to the CEO of Stark Pictures didn't linger long in the media headlines.
But in certain circles, it was a very significant event.
Take the person closest at hand—Tony Stark. He wasn't the least bit envious.
Instead, he went on a tirade about the three great masters of the Renaissance, then marched straight through medieval religious art and all the way to Picasso's abstract period, dismissing the entire history of art as overrated fluff.
After all, he was an engineer.
Show him an eleven-meter, full-scale Gundam model, and maybe he'd raise an eyebrow.
But was this whole affair nothing but benefits?
Not quite.
Henry only learned later that the authentication gathering hosted by the Mellons had caused a considerable stir in the art world.
Art and antiques revolve around two things: the seller's integrity and the buyer's discernment. Once money and goods have changed hands, no one admits fault afterward.
Yet in a field rife with forgeries, the Mellons had gathered every claimant to the original painting—including museums—and staged what amounted to an arena match judged by expert appraisers.
It was like buying a collection of supercars—not to race them on a track, but to smash them head-on in pairs to test structural rigidity.
Once something was publicly declared fake, wouldn't the holder resent the original seller?
Whether the seller had knowingly committed fraud or had simply lacked expertise, the damage to reputation was fatal. In high-end art dealing, reputation is everything.
The disreputable forgery dealers might fleece amateurs. But the truly large transactions happen among insiders dealing in "authentic" masterpieces.
For those dealers, reputation is life itself.
Selling a fake—or even appearing incompetent—can be ruinous.
That was why the Mellons' authentication event made enemies.
The elderly couple themselves hardly cared about resentment. But breaking unwritten rules inevitably caused inconvenience.
They were avid collectors and patrons behind major museums. Even subtle resentment—receiving information later than others, being placed further back in negotiation queues—could become troublesome.
Unless, of course, that resentment was redirected.
And that was precisely what gifting out one of the replicas accomplished.
Why had the authentication event happened?
Because someone said the real painting was here.
That someone was Henry.
He only pieced this together much later. No one explained it directly—there were only hints. Following those threads, he assembled his own version of the "truth."
Was it entirely accurate? He couldn't be sure.
But one thing was certain:
Gifts from old money are never simple.
Fortunately, Henry wasn't part of the art world. His wealth and status didn't qualify him for that circle anyway. So if he had to shoulder some of the redirected resentment, so be it.
He'd still gained a high-quality antique replica.
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There was another ripple effect—this time in Henry's own domain.
Helping Rachel Lambert Mellon restore her old photographs and films had effectively given Stark Pictures a powerful wave of publicity.
It was said that Mrs. Mellon now proudly showed off her digitally restored color photographs of her youth to anyone who visited. Oak Spring Farm reportedly displayed enlarged restored portraits of the couple in their younger days.
In their social circle, that kind of word-of-mouth endorsement carried tremendous weight.
Henry had no choice but to establish a dedicated external digital restoration department within Stark Pictures—specifically to serve old-money clients.
Otherwise, he would have been overwhelmed by "well-meaning inquiries" from wealthy patrons with ulterior motives.
Since the service was unique, profits were staggering. Competitors in the information technology field tried to enter digital restoration as well.
But because Stark Pictures' most advanced techniques hadn't been made public, their inferior results nearly got them sued by bargain-hunting aristocrats.
The clientele could afford anything. And Henry had never intended to price the service cheaply for mass accessibility.
The new restoration department was rapidly becoming a major revenue pillar for Stark Pictures.
So who truly gained more from this exchange with the Mellons?
Hard to say.
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With old money leading the way, Stark Pictures' film-grade digital imaging technology entered wider awareness.
While UHD quality comparable to 35mm film remained limited by hardware constraints, higher-than-television digital standards were increasingly embraced—especially by cost-conscious production teams.
At the same time, Stark Pictures continued digitizing and restoring its classic film library.
Henry even pushed the distribution department to partner with an old theater, funding projection upgrades in exchange for exclusive screenings of digitally restored classics.
The result?
Nostalgic audiences filled seats to relive memories. Younger cinephiles discovered legendary films on the big screen for the first time.
Though ticket revenue alone couldn't offset restoration costs, the initiative functioned as a powerful demonstration of capability.
Film fans began urging other studios to restore their own classics.
Hollywood's eight major studios approached Stark Pictures for talks.
But once the financial sheets were laid bare, they accepted Henry's argument:
The timing wasn't right.
Until home entertainment technology advanced further—until HD televisions and Blu-ray emerged—restoration wouldn't be truly profitable.
At present, only sentiment could justify such losses.
And when they saw the supercomputer platform required for the work?
Nine out of ten retreated immediately.
The tenth asked about acquisition and maintenance costs—and fled just as fast.
Only the reckless Tony Stark, at the helm of Stark Industries, would indulge such extravagance.
Yet few outsiders noticed the deeper strategy:
Tony was using Stark Pictures' demanding technical needs to aggressively push Stark Industries' technological advancement.
It was like a second round of competition between him and Henry after building the supercomputer.
Whoever failed to keep up would lose.
As for Moore's Law?
Tony Stark had just kicked it straight into the trash.
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