Ok, so I'm a new art collector, and some of my banker friends recommended this forum to me to learn more collecting art. Great reads so far, thanks to everyone here! One question I have is: who do you think is the mastermind behind the rapid rise of Banksy prices this year?

I mean, with COVID, of course, a lot of new cash hoarders are piling into alternative assets such as art, but for Banksy to frequently have above £1,000,000 prices for paintings, someone big is definitely jacking up the prices and doing some behind-the-scene works, I'm way to familiar with such maneuvers in the stock market with meme stocks like TSLA and NKLA, some major hedge funds are out there making a killing with misinformation pumps...

My banker friends and I have been poking around several dealers and galleries we buy from, and everyone has their own theories, but one name popped out quite often: Raphael Geismar, if I spelled that right.

Is anyone familiar with this Geismar dude? Is he a major whale with many works from Banksy, and I also heard he owns a shit load of stuff from KAWS and Invader...

From Google I see he's the heir to Geismar Railroad which is a very large railroad equipment company in France. www.alumni.hbs.edUnsignedtories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=65

If so, that'll be someone very inspiring for me as that's basically running the cheat codes in the art market, these moves will be so controversial in the financial market. Are these moves doable in the financial market? Yes, but will require some very detailed and sophisticated planning...

I hope to hear some insightful thoughts from you guys.

I stopped reading to be honest at “my banker friends and I”
GL