The collection is the catalyst. MOS is the engine. Trust is the product. Collector Services is the business.
Every valuable collection must eventually be inventoried, valued, insured and passed on — and almost none are documented. We do that work, done-for-you, to museum standard, powered by MOS — then route to the credentialed expert who signs. We never certify value ourselves; that discipline is what makes the record trustable and insurable.
Why this wins — three things at once
A real collection
The Charles Trois collection (firearms, frontier objects, Native American artifacts, Brady TX) — our flagship engagement and living proof.
A live engine
MOS is built and working today: photo → catalog → provenance → protected imaging → trust dossier, to museum standard.
A mandated market
Probate makes the work legally required on ~1.24M estates a year — recurring forever, and no one has industrialized it.
The model, the market, and the way in.
What we sell
Done-for-you: inventory & catalog (museum standard, in MOS) → photograph & protect (encrypted masters, watermarked previews) → provenance research → due-diligence dossier → route to the expert who signs (USPAP appraiser · ATF for firearms · NAGPRA counsel for Native items). We document and coordinate; we never certify value or authenticity.
Revenue engines
| Engine | What it is | Economics |
|---|---|---|
| Per-object tiers | A $35 registry · B $75 complete · C $150 museum-grade | ~86% GM |
| Collection engagements | Fixed-fee for estates & serious collectors (the workhorse) | $9K–225K · ~88% GM |
| MOS subscription | Living registry attached to every engagement | $50–500/mo · recurring |
| Annual re-verification | Condition & value update | ~15% of engagement |
| Collector Club | Membership, cross-sell, access | $500–2,500/yr |
The recurring layer is the enterprise-value engine: one-time services are worth ~1–1.5× revenue; recurring ARR is worth 4–8×. Treat every engagement as customer-acquisition for the subscription.
The whitespace — no one is here
| Who | What they do | AI photo→catalog |
|---|---|---|
| Institutional software (TMS, Axiell, Argus) | Museum databases, multi-year rollouts | No |
| Collector apps (Artwork Archive, CatalogIt) | Store records — you do the work | No |
| Estate-admin (EstateExec, Atticus, ClearEstate, Alix) | Tasks, accounting, filings — objects are line-items | No |
| Authentication AI (Art Recognition) | Analysis, not cataloging (~$2,200/work) | No |
| Collector Services (us) | Done-for-you catalog + provenance + trust | Yes |
Incumbents are only now chasing AI (a 2025 merger, Artlogic + ArtCloud, was struck expressly to buy it). The window is open and closing; the moat is proprietary comparables data + workflow lock-in + the liability-safe posture insurers require.
Probate — the mandated channel
When someone dies, the executor is required by law to file a court inventory & appraisement of the estate's property, including art and firearms. ~3.1M US deaths/year → ~1.24M estates through probate → ~309K with meaningful collectibles. It recurs with every death, forever.
California
The only major state that mandates a state-appointed appraiser — ~123 Probate Referees who run on spreadsheets. Be their tool; output the court-ready DE-160.
Firearms in estates
~520K probated estates/yr contain a gun. No national registry exists; unregistered NFA items are a felony. MOS's ATF routing solves the scariest step — exactly the Trois collection.
Fiduciaries first
PFAC (1,200 licensed CA fiduciaries, personally liable for the inventory) + estate attorneys + county Public Administrator MSAs (they already outsource: LA→CWS, OC→I-15).
Honest framing: a court cannot endorse a brand (judicial ethics). "Official instrument" means being the referee's tool + the accepted filing format + an approved county vendor + association-endorsed — never "court-endorsed."
Go-to-market — the connector is the dial
A rainmaker who opens museums, auction houses, dealers, family offices and estates shifts the mix up-market and is the single biggest lever: 15% commission on a recoverable draw, ~20–30% close on warm intros, ~$1–3M bookings each — and each additional connector ≈ +$1–3M/yr, near-linear. Point them at estates and serious collectors first (proven, high-ticket, cash now).
The phased vision (the venue is one channel, not the business)
Flagship + Services
The Trois inventory + Collector Services live; optionally the American Heritage Experience flagship in the Fort Worth Stockyards as showroom.
Collection Intelligence Center
Vaults, conservation, MOS HQ, the B2B services hub — in a low-cost building.
Scale the platform
MOS licensed to museums, auction houses and family offices worldwide; the probate channel productized.
The numbers — move the sliders.
Collector Services — how much it can make
| Scenario | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Gross profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | $208K | $450K | $710K | ~72% |
| Base | $540K | $1.05M | $1.63M | ~72% |
| Aggressive (institutional anchors) | $1.17M | $2.25M | $3.6M | ~72% |
Unit economics (86–88% GM): small collector $9K · serious collector $50K · estate $45K · family office $90K + $24K/yr · museum/auction $225K. TAM ≈ $10.3B one-time + ~$1.8B/yr from estate turnover; the probate inventory service alone is a ~$600M/yr serviceable market. The market is not demand-constrained — it is sales- and delivery-throughput constrained.
The American Heritage Experience venue — flagship feasibility
If you also run the physical flagship (Fort Worth Stockyards, 5,307 SF + patio). Move the sliders — rent, visitors, ticket, build-out — and watch break-even, EBITDA, payback and ROI.
Assumptions: patio at half interior rate + NNN; retail 20% attach @ $50 (50% COGS); patio F&B + events ≈ $950K (35% COGS); Collector Services ≈ $400K; memberships ≈ $250K; labor + marketing + insurance + tech ≈ $2.5M fixed. Stabilized-year, indicative — verify lease terms with the broker.
What could go wrong — and how each is handled.
Every material risk, ranked, with a designed mitigation and the named professional who carries the accountable sign-off. Honesty is the product; a sharp partner should see we've already found these.
gate
1. Collection value is unverified
The "$1B" is a claim. Building capital or equity on an unproven number is the classic amateur mistake.
Mitigation: Phase 0 inventory + independent USPAP appraisal before any capital; the number stays out of the cap table; we never represent value.
Sign-off: independent USPAP appraiser.
gate
2. Native American items — NAGPRA & provenance
Funerary/sacred/patrimony items and looted-origin objects carry legal and reputational exposure; some may be un-displayable and un-sellable.
Mitigation: provenance researched per item; route to tribal expertise + legal counsel; only cleared items are displayed or sold; flag "questioned," never "authentic."
Sign-off: NAGPRA/cultural-property counsel + tribal consultation.
3. Firearms — ATF / NFA compliance & security
Unregistered NFA items are contraband (felony); estates and displays need vault-grade security.
Mitigation: ATF routing built into MOS (Form 5, NFRTR checks); security & insurance-grade handling; the compliance step becomes a selling point, not a liability.
Sign-off: FFL/ATF counsel.
4. Venue rent ($153/SF) & ticket throughput cap
Premium rent + a physical ceiling (~150–180K tickets/yr) can crush a ticket-dependent venue.
Mitigation: negotiate percentage rent / Year-1 abatement; lean capex; multi-engine revenue (retail, patio, events, Collector Services) — tickets reach break-even, the rest is profit. The venue is a channel, not the business.
Sign-off: broker (NAI Robert Lynn) on real lease terms.
5. Sales throughput ceiling — services sell 1:1
One connector tops out ~$3M; growth is human-gated.
Mitigation: each connector ≈ +$1–3M linear → add connectors; productize the sales motion; the recurring subscription layer compounds underneath.
Owner: One Trinity (hire/lock connector first).
6. Delivery & expert bench bottleneck
Credentialed USPAP/ATF/NAGPRA signers are finite; if engagements outrun experts, delivery stalls.
Mitigation: build the expert bench ahead of the pipeline; experts are pass-through billed to the client, not on our P&L.
Owner: One Trinity operations.
7. "Official instrument" is a positioning trap
Courts cannot endorse a private vendor (judicial ethics); claiming "court-endorsed" is false and gets rejected.
Mitigation: be the referee's tool + the accepted filing format + an approved county vendor + association-endorsed. Market "approved vendor / accepted format," never "court-endorsed."
Owner: One Trinity + legal review of all claims.
8. Liability on value / authenticity (E&O)
Emitting a value or authenticity opinion is uninsurable exposure for an AI-driven service.
Mitigation: the core doctrine — we document evidence and route to the credentialed expert who signs; disclaimers in the dossier and contract; MOS never emits the opinion.
Sign-off: the accountable licensed professional, always.
edge
9. Competitive window
Incumbents are moving toward AI (2025 merger; Christie's Ventures backing art-AI). We are early, not alone.
Mitigation / edge: speed + a proprietary comparables moat that compounds per job + the liability-safe posture they don't have. First mover with real data wins.
Owner: One Trinity — velocity.
What a sharp partner should ask — and our honest answer.
Is the collection really worth what's claimed?
Unknown — and we won't pretend. Phase 0 inventory + independent appraisal replaces the claim with a defensible, insured number before any capital moves.
Is the demand real or wishful?
Real and mandated: every probated estate must inventory & appraise its property by law; insurers require the same dossier; ~1.24M estates/yr. It's not a market we create — it's one we serve.
Why hasn't someone already done this?
Institutional software has no AI; collector apps only store; estate-admin tools treat objects as line-items; appraisers work by hand. AI photo→catalog done-for-you for the private/estate middle is greenfield — and the window is closing.
What does the capital actually fund?
First a bounded Phase 0 (verify the collection, clear it legally, prove the P&L). If green, the build/scale. Staged tranches gated by milestones, with a preferred return.
Where's the durable value — services or software?
Services pay the bills (~72% GP, cash now); the MOS subscription layer builds a 4–8× ARR asset underneath and is the real enterprise value. Every engagement seeds it.
What's the single biggest lever, and the single biggest risk?
Both are the connector: sales throughput is the binding constraint and the growth dial. Lock the rainmaker first; each one is near-linear +$1–3M.