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# of whales with unlimited funds
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77 posts in this topic

Serious question: not looking for names or a list (but provide whatever you want), how many "whales" are in the hobby? I'm specifically referring to people that can and often do drop 6 figures on OA frequently (monthly or whenever they want). Excluding the high volume known dealers, of course.

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The number can be derived from the following formula, known as "The Park Theorem":

A + B + C + D + E + F

Where:

A = all Hollywood/showbiz celebrities with a net worth above $10 million

B = all professional athletes with a net worth above $10 million

C = all people working in Silicon Valley with a net worth above $10 million

D = all Chinese billionaires

E = all Russian billionaires

F = all Middle Eastern billionaires

Edited by tth2
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1 hour ago, tth2 said:

The number can be derived from the following formula, known as "The Park Theorem":

A + B + C + D + E + F

Where:

A = all Hollywood/showbiz celebrities with a net worth above $10 million

B = all professional athletes with a net worth above $10 million

C = all people working in Silicon Valley with a net worth above $10 million

D = all Chinese billionaires

E = all Russian billionaires

F = all Middle Eastern billionaires

Too wide a net. And it would have to be $25 Million. 

Net worth includes illiquid assets like houses, real estate, cars, boats, stocks, bonds, business interests, etc. 

Your house/apartment could hit the $10 Million mark easily in places like SF, LA, NY, etc. 

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A rare photo of an OA whale on it's way to ruin your auction dreams.

wealthy-whale_1x.jpg

 

 

 

Joking aside, I think there must only be a handful of true high rollers, you hear about them in threads here and there. I'd say, as far as someone that may "regularly" drop 6-figures on OA? Has to be 25 or less right? 

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18 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

A rare photo of an OA whale on it's way to ruin your auction dreams.

wealthy-whale_1x.jpg

 

 

 

Joking aside, I think there must only be a handful of true high rollers, you hear about them in threads here and there. I'd say, as far as someone that may "regularly" drop 6-figures on OA? Has to be 25 or less right? 

Probably. It only takes 2-5 high rollers to completely change the entire OA market.

If 2-5 high rollers start bidding up, say, Mark Bagley Spider-Man clone saga pages for some reason, then that stuff will rocket up in price, and probably start spilling over into all of Bagley's pages. Whether you and I think it makes any sense is irrelevant. I don't get the Herb Trimpe Hulk OA bump, for example. But, whatever. If people want to pay that kind of money for that stuff, so be it. I am not, so they are welcome to all of those pages.

Edited by PhilipB2k17
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21 minutes ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

Probably. It only takes 2-5 high rollers to completely change the entire OA market.

If 2-5 high rollers start bidding up, say, Mark Bagley Spider-Man clone sage pages for some reason, then that stuff will rocket up in price, and probably start spilling over into all of Bagley's pages. Whether you and I think it makes any sense is irrelevant. I don't get the Herb Trimpe Hulk OA bump, for example. But, whatever. If people want to pay that kind of money for that stuff, so be it. I am not, so they are welcome to all of those pages.

Sure, I obviously agree, two people that want something real bad are all you need. I was just attempting to take a WAG at the 'how many' question.

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48 minutes ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

Probably. It only takes 2-5 high rollers to completely change the entire OA market.

If 2-5 high rollers start bidding up, say, Mark Bagley Spider-Man clone sage pages for some reason, then that stuff will rocket up in price, and probably start spilling over into all of Bagley's pages. Whether you and I think it makes any sense is irrelevant. I don't get the Herb Trimpe Hulk OA bump, for example. But, whatever. If people want to pay that kind of money for that stuff, so be it. I am not, so they are welcome to all of those pages.

 

This is an interesting analogy, at least to me;
since I Love Trimpe on Hull, and Hate Bagley on Everything...

hm

 

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21 minutes ago, Doc McCoy said:

This is veering dangerously close to “Cabal” territory.  

Many of you may have already said too much. :fear:

You're all on The Cabal's blacklist now.  :eek: 

59f0c158c507f_THECABAL.thumb.jpg.253e321187e9f27c0ddc52c75b1dbffc.jpg

 

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On 24/10/2017 at 8:26 PM, kbmcvay said:

Serious question: not looking for names or a list (but provide whatever you want), how many "whales" are in the hobby? I'm specifically referring to people that can and often do drop 6 figures on OA frequently (monthly or whenever they want). Excluding the high volume known dealers, of course.

Ok let's have a crack at this and estimate using Fermi's method for the US only. (All numbers are pulled out of my ****hole)

323 Million people in the US

Let's say 1 in 1000 people collect comics so 323,000 comic collectors in the US. (Given that Batman can sell 100,000 copies that is probably not unreasonable)

Top 1% of US Income  ($456,000 annually) 3230 comic collectors in the 1% income bracket.

1 in 10 Comic collectors may be art collectors (it is more niche) 323 people.

People able to spend a million a year let's say 10% so 32 people.

 

There were 13 people in the Cabal photo, and the one taking the photo........:flipbait:

 

 

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11 hours ago, t3quila said:

Ok let's have a crack at this and estimate using Fermi's method for the US only. (All numbers are pulled out of my ****hole)

323 Million people in the US

Let's say 1 in 1000 people collect comics so 323,000 comic collectors in the US. (Given that Batman can sell 100,000 copies that is probably not unreasonable)

Top 1% of US Income  ($456,000 annually) 3230 comic collectors in the 1% income bracket.

1 in 10 Comic collectors may be art collectors (it is more niche) 323 people.

People able to spend a million a year let's say 10% so 32 people.

 

There were 13 people in the Cabal photo, and the one taking the photo........:flipbait:

 

 

Most if not all the people at that table could drop 6 figures on a piece of art, the question is how many of them actually have dropped 6 figures on a piece of art? In my opinion there are no more than 10 whales in this industry that can and do regularly spend 6 figures on artwork (not including dealers). 

I may be wrong, and no doubt Gene will correct me, but i believe that the majority of high rollers sitting around that table, would only pay a six figure amount on a piece of art if it was something they really really wanted, and as those kind of pieces dont come around too often, I would not classify them as whales using the definition set out by the OP -I'm specifically referring to people that can and often do drop 6 figures on OA frequently (monthly or whenever they want"

Edited by John S.
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