Hey Big Spender

[aljurgela]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I would think, although it's just speculation, that there is a very significant volume of private transactions at the high end that aren't reflected in auction house sales. Certainly there is incentive to avoid the premiums and sell directly. If this is true, then perhaps there are more collectors in Bruce's categories than his numbers reflect.

I would agree with Peter. If I had to estimate, about 25% of my collection come from the "public" auctions. Most of it comes from private sales. This should serve as an offset to the "recycled" sales that flow through the auction houses.

Not sure if my 25% is low or high, but I throw it out there as a data point.