Agreed, the resale market might a decent indicator of the value of a piece. There aren't many images or photographers out there whose work can be purchased as an investment, and I don't believe Lik has achieved that status although his staff certainly presents the work that way. He's a lot closer to it than I'll ever be, but only time will tell if he gets elevated to that level. Unfortunately for him the proliferation of his work, the size of his editions, and his extreme variation in print pricing model could easily impeded him from ever getting to that status (if he even wants to). The challenge of selling editions of 950 is there is no "scarcity". This is my problem with my two Kinkade pieces I purchased many years ago and have long since been replaced with my own work. Even though they were two his more popular paintings and sold out pretty quickly, there is no shortage of people wanting to sell them. Additionally, copies are all over the place on eBay. Lik's work may even be affected by this.
I think the target location for Lik isn't really casinos, considering some of his better locations are like Lahaina Maui which just doubled it's size last year. It's more about the hot spots for the international travel market. While most of us have seen a lot of great photography, very few people have ever really seen a well presented piece, and his galleries are pretty impressive. He's found an extremely successful formula, marketed himself and his image very well. Selling enough pieces out of each gallery to handle the 6 figure monthly rent - it is impressive.
