My little foray into wealth last night.

[Rain Man]

Just had to mention this. I went to a business party last night, and it was at a very upscale condo, quite swanky and architecturally distinctive. I'm nosy, so I looked up the assessed value. It was about $1.7 million, which actually seems cheap for this place since it was very, very nice.

The furnishings didn't seem that livable, and I was curious who actually lived in the place. During a conversation, one of the hostesses told me. It was a family that has a mansion a couple of miles away, but they bought this condo just as a place to host parties.

Okay, got it. This is a $1.7 million private clubhouse. They bought a $1.7 million condo just to hold parties.

Then I got the tour.

It had a lot of art in it, and there was a piece upstairs over a couch by a particular artist that I recognized. He's a somewhat obscure artist, but I knew the name and I was thinking, "Wait a minute".

So when I got home I did a little searching. That painting - the exact painting that was over the couch - sold at auction a couple of years ago for $1.2 million.

That piece was about 36" x 48". And they had two more pieces by the same artist that were enormous. At the same auction where the small painting was sold, another painting by this artist sold for over $60 million, so there's a high end that's pretty high. And one of the big paintings looked suspiciously similar to another one that auctioned off for $20 million.

And that was the one artist that I'd heard of. There were two more pieces that the knowledgeable art people were oohing and aahing about that I suspect may have been similar in status.

And the thing is, I've never heard of the owners. It's some finance dude and his wife.

There's some serious money walking around in this world, and it's not just famous people. It's really kind of amazing to see what some people out there can afford to do. I really should have gone into finance as a career.

Anyone else ever wander into a display of wealth like this? Let's hear the stories.

[stonedstooge]

Paintings are most likely fakes.

[Ceej]

It isn't a mansion unless it has a bowling alley.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

Paintings are most likely fakes.

These weren't. Unless possibly they were reproductions while the real paintings were in a vault. These people had a lot of money and they spent it on art.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Consistent1

I have never understood people paying that kind of money for paintings.

Suppose it could be considered an investment, but still.

I can understand the party condo far more than that.

IIRC, Lars Ulrich has made more money from art investment than from Metallica.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Consistent1

I have never understood people paying that kind of money for paintings.

Suppose it could be considered an investment, but still.

I can understand the party condo far more than that.

It's ridiculous when you think about what you're actually buying.

That said, as long as there's a market and you think it's going to appreciate, you're right. It's an investment that you can enjoy. But it sure seems like an artificial market.

I guess, though, for these paintings in the stratosphere of pricing, it's not like the market will collapse due to a recession. The people who can pay $1.2 million for a painting don't get affected by recessions except on paper. And people this rich will always pay for something that brings prestige or impresses people.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

This thread has really inspired me. I'm making a drawing right friggin now while I still have beer left. I do my best work when I have beer.

Rainman, were any of those paintings in crayon ? That's all I have at the moment.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Hog Farmer

This thread has really inspired me. I'm making a drawing right friggin now while I still have beer left. I do my best work when I have beer.

Rainman, were any of those paintings in crayon ? That's all I have at the moment.

Two were pastel and one was hog semen. No crayons, unfortunately.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Two were pastel and one was hog semen. No crayons, unfortunately.

OOOHHHH. I'm gonna be rich !!!!!!!!!!!! I've got Hog semen in the fridge as we speak.

[Valiant]

Please. Party condo. More like swingers condo so the neighbors dont know.

[saphojunkie]

When I first moved to LA, I met a girl at the bar whose family OWNS a major US bank. First I went to their Beverly Hills mansion for a party. Which was insane.

Then I went away for the weekend with her to the family's "Beach house" in Malibu.

The beach house was a $40 million compound. It was in ****ing sane. Acres of land. I went for a run in the back yard. I got back in and asked "where's lily?"

"Oh, she's in the other wing."

That's when I went outside and realized that this massive mansion I'd been in was actually 1/2 of the whole house. Disturbing wealth.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by saphojunkie

When I first moved to LA, I met a girl at the bar whose family OWNS a major US bank. First I went to their Beverly Hills mansion for a party. Which was insane.

Then I went away for the weekend with her to the family's "Beach house" in Malibu.

The beach house was a $40 million compound. It was in ****ing sane. Acres of land. I went for a run in the back yard. I got back in and asked "where's lily?"

"Oh, she's in the other wing."

That's when I went outside and realized that this massive mansion I'd been in was actually 1/2 of the whole house. Disturbing wealth.

Howard Stern's chimneys, y'all.

That's pure crazy. Crap hanging on your wall worth 100x more than your entire house that you don't even live in? I do not understand.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Phobia

That's pure crazy. Crap hanging on your wall worth 100x more than your entire house that you don't even live in? I do not understand.

If it serves as a place to make connections to further your wealth, while accruing value in it's own right with no effort from you, what's the drawback?

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

If it serves as a place to make connections to further your wealth, while accruing value in it's own right with no effort from you, what's the drawback?

I'm not suggesting there is a drawback. I just can't wrap my $65/hr head around it ATM.

[hometeam]

Not quite as 'fancy' but I have been a few times out to MO state Senator Mike Kehoe's farm. It is MASSIVE, with its own horse arena, and Im not talking a little corral, I am talking a full covered, full size arena with all the stalls and everything you need for an entire herd of high dollar horses. An extremely valuable classic horse buggy collection, housed in its own spotless barn. A giant house of course, with a guest house with 20 foot ceilings, completely bad ass setup with bedrooms, lofts, and he has catering staff that work in the giant kitchen in the guesthouse to feed us. Go out (you have to ride out on a 4 wheeler or gator since its so far) a bit farther and not only does he have millions of dollars in farm equipment/buildings he has a skeet shooting deck that looks over his private valley that runs along over a mile of river.

Must be nice~