Dr Marc Faber >>> The Man, His Thoughts And His Lifestyle

On the banks of the Ping, in the heart of the city, is a building, so well hidden that strangers who stumble across it can but gape in awe at its unexpected magnificence.

This is Dr. Marc Faber's office. A gigantic Indian red building with golden trimmings tucked away in a quiet soi off the Chiang Mai - Lamphun Road, near the Chiengmai Gymkhana Club. Next to the office, is an old teak house where Dr. Faber and his beautiful wife Supatra, from Nonthaburi, live.

Dr. Marc Faber, a.k.a Dr. Doom, is an Asian f i n a n c i a l l e g e n d . Born in Switzerland, he is the author of the avidly read monthly investment newsletter, The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, The Great Money Illusion and the upcoming book Tomorrow's Gold,

Dr. Faber is heralded as one of the foremost authorities on Asia's economy. He made his fortune in real estate in the north of Thailand in the eighties while living and working in Hong Kong where, in 1990, he started up his own company, Marc Faber Limited, which acts as an investment advisor, fund manager and broker/dealer. Supatra was the owner of her namesake, Supatra, a famous Thai restaurant in Hong Kong for many years and is now spending much of her time between Chiang Mai and Bangkok.In 1998 the Fabers bought this magnificent property and moved into their new home in 2000. Dr. Faber designed his office building himself, with the help of an architect, and Supatra enjoyed working with her husband over the past few years in decorating the building.

Visitors are greeted by two giant statues bent in a wai, in Mao-era China attire - a gentle teaser of what to expect once invited in.Dr. Faber's office is awe-inspiring. A massive office with a ceiling, at one point, reaching up 25 metres, and lined with an impressive collection of communist era propaganda

“When I arrived in Hong Kong in 1973,” Dr. Faber told Citylife, “I was fascinated with what was going on in China. I also realised that Mao Tse Tung was surely not going to live much longer, and once gone, significant changes would occur in China. I was personally interested in Mao’s so-called propaganda art which existed in the millions, such as ceramic busts of the Chairman, badges, posters, etcetera. I therefore bought thousands of posters. Later in the 1980s I began to realise that it would be a pity to just have posters, so I sent some of my staff over to China to purchase other forms of Mao memorabilia.

” Today Dr. Faber owns around 350,000 Mao badges, ranging in worth from a couple of dollars to hundreds of dollars each. “At that time you could buy them by the buckets,” added Dr. Faber, “now, they are gaining in value and fast becoming collector’s items. So the idea was to slowly build up a collection, not because I have an incredible admiration of Mao, but because he was an important figure in the world. Pleasantly, or unpleasantly he was a great influence upon his country. I am fully aware that he butchered 20 million people and it’s not a value judgment of him that I have this collection. It is more out of interest of the period of socialism/communism in the world, which started with the Russian Revolution in 1917 and just about ended with the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. This, in context of the history of mankind, was a very unusual experiment which may not be repeated again, and so to have art from this period passes at least some cultural interest for me and it is a testimony and reflection of that period of history when some countries embarked on this massive experiment.

”Dr. Faber also has thousands of little red books, in languages ranging from Mandarin to English, from Vietnamese to Thai. “These are not rare items,” he continued, “By the time Mao died there were probably around one billion Chinese people, and I suppose that he made a poster and a red book for just about all of them, but when he died all production stopped. Many badges got minted down for their metal, many posters and books were burned and busts broken. Like Ford’s T-model, where 25 million were made, but no one thought to collect them so they are very rare now. I think that the same will be for Mao’s propaganda art.

”The Faber office is a wonderful showcase of just a tip of his iceberg of a collection, most of which are kept in a warehouse for lack of space and security. There are communist memorabilia from other regimes such as Lenin busts, Trotsky ceramic paintings, Stalin posters and more. A most impressive collection, magnificently showcased.