Bruce, Could you share the story with us that led to your decision to change directions as it were in your poster selling philosophy?
Certainly in the early days of your business you concentrated on catering to "investors" and/or "advanced collectors". Yes, you published your sales list, but your convention appearances and focus of course was on quality over quantity and in getting those high-dollar pieces for the early Christie's auctions and working to attract high-end collectors. I even remember reading a profile on poster investing with you in a Delta Skymiles Magazine, and you related a story where you met with Jose and wanted to buy all 3 copies of the one-sheet he had on "This Gun For Hire". What happened that made you do a change and decide to focus on quantity instead? ----- Original Message ----- From: Bruce Hershenson To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2010 9:56 AM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Any bets on METROPOLIS? Here's the thing about expensive movie posters. It doesn't amount to a hill of beans what all the "rooters" think a poster SHOULD sell for. All that matters is what the few well-heeled bidders think, and when one of the major players (Kirk Hammett) switches from buyer to seller, that is a HUGE reversal in the tiny high end part of the hobby. The entire hobby is a pyramid. I have sold to 31,000 movie paper fans, and maybe 20,000 of those would never spend even $100 on a single item. Probably another 8,000 would never spend $500, and probably another 2,000 would never spend $1,000. That last 1,000 or so HAVE spent $1,000 or more on a single poster. How many have spent $40,000 or more? A couple of dozen or so. And it is what THEY think of the Metropolis insert that matters, not what anyone else thinks. I am content to keep mostly selling to those 20,000 who like posters between $1 and $100. THAT part of the hobby is doing quite well! Bruce P.S. My estimates are wild guesses, although I could, if I wanted, analyze my sales and see the actual numbers. The true numbers might be off, but the basis concept is 100% sound. The top of the pyramid is incredibly tiny, just as it is in comic books, or baseball cards, or Van Gogh paintings. On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 11:00 PM, Richard Halegua Comic Art <[email protected]> wrote: first time I said $75-125k then I said $100-125k I still think at $100k, I was closest.. LOLOLOL At 08:41 PM 3/19/2010, Bruce Hershenson wrote: So who was closest? On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 5:26 AM, allen day <[email protected]> wrote: I'll take some of that action. $168k (includes BP) ad --- On Fri, 3/19/10, Brek Anderson < [email protected]> wrote: From: Brek Anderson < [email protected]> Subject: Re: [MOPO] Any bets on METROPOLIS? To: [email protected] Date: Friday, March 19, 2010, 12:45 AM $268,361 Bet 25 cents. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Halegua Comic Art" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 12:24:36 PM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain Subject: Re: [MOPO] Any bets on METROPOLIS? much less than that I think.. $100-125k At 11:13 AM 3/18/2010, James Richard wrote: Is there a betting pool going on what the METROPOLIS poster will go for this weekend at Heritage? I'm thinking around $200,000 (since it is "only an insert" and doesn't actually have the image of the robot-Maria on it). http://movieposters.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=7019&Lot_No=85446 This Friday, March 19th the 'Rarest Of The Rare' 1927 Metropolis Movie Poster is up for Auction Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
