Re: [MOPO] How many poster collectors are there?

[JR]

No way. The nearly 7 billion people live mostly in the impoverished 3rd world -- they don't money to live on, much less spend on movie posters. You can't use the world population as a guide. The only practical approach is to go with the evaluations of long-time dealers -- they are the ones with the best feel for the market. I'd guess somewhere between Bruce's 5,000 and an upper estimate of 10,000 collectors are active at any given time (meaning those who buy at least 4 posters a year). Of course, people drift in and out of collecting. I've drifted in and out 4 times in the past 40 years, sometimes staying away for as long as 10 years. But I think if there were more than 10,000 currently active buyers that we'd see a lot more sales. At 4 per year, that's a minimum 40,000 posters sold just to "collectors" -- with the number probably closed to 60,000 - 80,000 a year (since 4 per year would be a minimum and many collectors do much more than that). Then there are at least another 20,000 "contemporary" posters sold to casual buyers who just want to have a poster or two from their current favorite films to display. So, that's 60,000 to 100,000 posters sold a year -- about what I seem to see changing hands on eBay and other auctions, plus factoring in some private selling. Of course, we have no real way of gauging how much private selling is going on.   -- JR   ----- Original Message ----- From: Andy Neal To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 4:49 Subject: Re: [MOPO] How many poster collectors are there? I think David is the warmest to the figures mentioned so far.... The World population is approx 6.4 Billion I would estimate at least 50,000+ serious and casual collectors. If I had to put a bet on it, I would say more like 100,000. You only have to look on ebay to see how many dealers and the number they are trading in - Their feedback scores are a giveaway. I am certain there are many many collectors (serious and casual) that need to come out of their shell, many won't like using mailing lists or forums, or just may not know about them. I'm not claiming to know something that everyone else doesn't here, this is just my humble opinion and this is purely food for thought. I would be interested in seeing ebays stats on individual original movie poster purchases. This is an interesting link on the CIA website regarding world populations.... http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html Thanks Andy ----Original Message Follows---- From: David Lieberman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Subject: Re: [MOPO] How many poster collectors are there? Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:41:23 EST I'd say 10,000 at least. Probably more like 20,000, or even much  more. Might as well ask how many licks it takes to get to the center of a  tootsie roll tootsie pop. The world will never know. David  Lieberman CineMasterpieces.com 602 309 0500           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.