[yetanother12345]

> I needed someone who was a known quantity more than I needed someone who was possibly great.

There's also an economic side to this: Higher skill most often has higher costs, so it would not be rational to overshoot in a business setting.

In an Art setting higher skill very rarely commands a higher price. At least for the Visual Arts (painting, sculpture, etc) producer skill is hardly the most requested property. IOW it's mostly a matter of provenience and history of the artwork in question, not much the skill required to produce it. Also, for Music, Visual Arts, Performative Arts (excluding Sports!) personal preferences seem to dictate a substantially larger proportion of the price level than performer competence.