How many cels collectors in the world ?

[Thanatos]

It is a thought (but the question has surely still been set) that appeared suddenly through my mind: how many cels collectors are there in the world ?

I know it's nearly impossible to say. But there are some things I'm pretty sure of:

- What we see is only the emerged part of the iceberg. The very large majority of cels collectors is I guess living in Japan (logical, you will tell me) and doesn't have online galleries.
- Apart from the Japan, the rest of collectors is largely located in the USA and then in the European continent (the only countries where people have enough money to pay themselves luxuries like that ).
- Among the anime/manga fans, cels collectors are very marginal, compared to figures collectors for example. It's not a very well-known sector (or I don't think so to be exact) and it's very costly.

Well, this isn't very much and is quite obvious, so add things so that we could appreciate more exactly (what a joke ) the number of cels collectors.

[theultimatebrucelee]

I remember mass communication professor saying one big reason people go online is to join forums is to find those other 1 in 10000 people of the same interest and be affirmed for things. I'm guessing cel collectors are like that, a handful in one city district if even that? when I first joint here there was one other cel collector on here that lives in the same city as I do, forgot the person though.

its pretty logical to think Japan has the most cel collectors, although I often wonder if theres is some kinda of sharing site that's Japan only that I am not aware of..although seeing japanese collector at rubberslug I'm guessing such site doesn't exist or at least not on the same scale.

[dark-water-dragon]

I think the more important question is what makes someone a collector. For example if someone has a Disney piece because they are fans of the medium, or they are connecting with a piece from their childhood. Now is a collector someone who has one piece, two, or someone what has a wide range of items. For example can I call myself a classic car collector if I only have one car?

The next question comes to cels. Are we only talking about the celluloids or any form of animation production art?

Even with all this included I thing representing our population as a whole the number is very very small. I was just at Nekocon this past fall and I did not see anyone what had a cel or any animation production art for that matter. I think it is a dying field and it is sad. Just look at how many beta members are liquidating their own collections and dropping out of the hobby.

[cutiebunny]

Judging from the attendance of some of the larger conventions, I'd say that there aren't a lot of collectors. While it's true that conventions like Anime Expo can draw in 100K+ people, the portion that are actually lining up to get autographs and sketches from guests make up only a small fraction of attendees. This could be because many attendees don't have the patience to stand in line for an hour or more in the hopes of getting something signed (though they seem to be able to find this patience if the guest is a cute female singer.)

Most collectors don't publically display their collections so it's hard to really come up with a number. The collectors on RS make up only a small fraction of collectors in Europe & Asia. If I had to come up with a figure, maybe a couple million...if that.

[sensei]

Among the anime/manga fans, cels collectors are very marginal, compared to figures collectors for example. It's not a very well-known sector (or I don't think so to be exact) and it's very costly.

I would agree heartily to the first. I went to AnimeNext for three years, presenting regularly on cel collecting, before meeting even one other collector (besides Starfighter, whom I roped into presenting with me). It does seem to be a very fringy area of interest. I'd guess, however, that there is a somewhat larger circle of American animation art collectors, especially of Disney and classic Warner Brothers art. Part of this is reflected by the greater number of online sites offering such art, and the relatively higher prices it commands.

I'd differ on the last point. Compared to high-end resin-cast figures, animation art is not very costly, at least not for most series or movies. That is one of the things that attracted me and kept me in the field. Why should I pay perhaps a hundred dollars or more for one of a couple hundred (for a limited edition) examples of a plastic image of a character or mecha, when for the same money I could get "the" image that was actually used to make a critical episode of a series or movie I admire?

For what it's worth, about a year ago I did a bean-count of Beta participants. At that time, 970 persons had registered on the site from its origins in 2002 to 2011, and during a given ten-day period I found that 108 members visited the site at least once. Considering that many people who registered visited only once before deciding that it was not their bag, that was a pretty healthy ratio. Still, it suggests that the total number of animation art collectors, lurkers, hoarders, souvenir-buyers, as well as hard-bitten enthusiasts like ourselves is probably numbered in the low thousands rather than the millions.

Which is nice when a really nice item is up FA and I'm patiently auction-sitting and counting down the seconds before unloading my bid.

[ReiTheJelly]

I've presented cel collecting panels at a multitude of conventions all across the USA and I've never had a huge turn out for my panel (most I ever got was about 80, least I ever had was 5). And of the attendees, I rarely meet people who are already collectors.

I would say that, at least in the USA, there are very few anime cel collectors, but quite a few Disney or American series cel collectors. I know I was quite surprised when I asked my favorite framer about the possibility of doing a cel or two for me. They told me they've done tons of Disney art for collectors in my city!


I would also imagine there are many, many collectors who have no internet presence. Either because they don't want to publicize their collection, or because they are technologically impaired and don't know how to make a website for their artwork.