Now comes the report from the Christie’s auction held this past Saturday in New York that a bottle of 1926 Macallan Scotch sold for $54,000, or $2,100 an ounce. It set a record for a bottle of scotch. It also beat expectations.

The total generated at the distilled spirits auction was just over $300,000. Also exceeding expectations.

As we keep saying there is a tremendous market for anything rare.

The fact that generic domains are not only rare but have a commercial use, makes them cheap by comparison to other commodities and collectibles.

Our advice, buy a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue and use the other $53,800 on a good domain.…

I spent seven hours at the huge Art Basel Show in Miami yesterday. I saw the obligatory canvases painted completely white (25k+), Black (65K+) and a very pretty green color priced, at a no doubt what is a steal, at $335,000.

Also on display were the white canvas with simply words like “die collector scum”, and “meat is death”. I also got to see the back doors of what appeared to be a 60′s volkswagen bus placed on the wall, a bunch of clothes on the floor and more hanging from the ceiling which looked like what happened when grandma’s clothes line broke. There was a cardboard box open flat hanging on the wall with some tape hanging from it, no price was listed, guess if you can’t afford the box you shouldn’t ask the price.

My personal favorite was (picture attached) of one of the first apple computers with a sneaker on top of it.

I did inquire about the price for all you tech guys (after all it is almost Christmas) but sad to say you had to buy the whole collection of some 50 sneakers with various items attached to them, one sneaker had a wine bottle when the foot should have been.

Of course there were the “die piggy piggy die die” (those who have seen “Mickey Blue Eyes” will understand), type of paintings, all priced in at least in the five figures most in the six.

I had a nice conversation with a dealer which was asking 2.3 Million for a very pretty oil, who told me a client had purchased a similar painting a few years ago for 2 Million and now was worth $3 Million. He also told me he was having a good show and sold a painting for over 3 million yesterday.

So after my time at Art Basel, i left empty handed but with the clear knowledge that in comparison, domains are cheap. Dirt Cheap.

Let me be clear here, domains are not just a “good buy” or a “good value” or “fairly priced in today’s market”, but they are downright cheap.

Let’s take our friend who purchased the painting for 2 million and sold it for 3 million three years later. Fair enough. Investing those funds at 8% would give you $160,000 of return a year, non-compounded, so if you hold a painting for 3 years and sell for 3 million your did alright but you would have had a return of half as much at 8%.…

Every day we receive many offers from retail customers looking to purchase domains. The vast majority of these folk still don’t grasp the concept that a domain is worth anymore than the registration fee.

Most people compare domains to real estate. I view domains more like commodities and collectibles. A commodity is something that has limited amounts and demand for them. A collectible is something that is something prized, either one of a kind or very limited in number.  Like commodities and collectibles, domain’s value, in large part, come from the fact that all of these resources are finite.  Market value is based on supply and demand. Not to say that they are not an infinite combination of letters and numbers that one can use as a domain, or using a non .com extensions, but there are certainly a finite amount of short generic .com’s.  The shorter and more generic the domain, the more valuable it becomes.

With regards to real estate,  although there are certainly very unique properties, the vast majority of real estate is not that special. Take a tract home in a community of thousands of others. You miss out on buying one of them there are 50 more for sale pretty much just like it.  A condo in a building of 500 units.  You miss out on buying one there is another just like it on the floor above or below.  They are not that unique.  Maybe that is why the real estate market has collapsed.

Yet during the same time, commodities have skyrocketed. Oil, gold, copper, silver all way up this year and over the last several years. World demand is high. There will be fluctuations in price, but the long term outlook is that commodities will be only more expensive in the coming years. There is just too many people in the world, countries going through enormous growth, more development, more need.

Domains are similarly poised. The growth of the Internet is certain, domains are needed for sites, blogs, traffic. Not just in the good old USA, but all over the world and the only universal domain is a .com

Stuff.com, there is only one of those in the world.

You can go to a flea market and pick up an oil painting for $50, yet this week in Miami over 35,000 people will gather for “Art Basel” which is expected to generate sales over 500 million dollars in just 4 days.…