From: joetaxpayer 
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject: Re: Who buys these paintings?
Date: Sun, 20 May 2007 11:07:12 -0500
	iQBVAwUARlByMPl/I4+O31e5AQEIYwH/fsL7lfPTHdUzrITf0suoTRv5jB0s7BiJ
	Hb/l+l0d+KFQYdfqPNo14ngM1BzB3YmkLI7aaj8s3k0AMfxPLjrNmQ==
	=ckDk



Ram Samudrala wrote:

> Lately, I've been reading about the sales of paintings which are in
> the tens of millions of dollars, with a recent Rothko ("White Center
> (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)") selling for $72.8 million
> dollars. See:
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/arts/design/16auction.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

It's not too hard to go to Forbes.com and find 946 Billionaires as of 
this past March's "The World's Billionaires" story. But don't let that 
one resale throw you off, it's not as though there are hundreds of such 
paintings of such value. The story you referenced said 65 lots sold for 
$254.8 Million Total. Wiki already shows the sale on their list of most 
expensive paintings at 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_paintings
Given that billionaire list totals $3.5 Trillion dollars, it's almost 
logical that a mere $2 Billion might cover the top 25-30 paintings.

You ask about billionaire's liquidity. Great question, tough to answer. 
I recall stories of Michael Jackson being worth a huge sum, but so 
illiquid he was defaulting on loans. Which is why here we recommend 3-6 
month's of living expenses in liquid assets, more if your income is 
erratic. And access to relatively low sources of liquidity such as a 
401(k) loan or HELOC, to smooth some bumps along the way.

JOE