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                <p>NEW YORK (Reuters) – A miserly duck, a vampire and pair of precocious kids are among the richest fictional characters, according to a ranking by Forbes.</p>
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Scrooge McDuck, the "penny-pinching poultry" with a fortune in gold coins whose estimated worth is $44.1 billion, headed the list of Forbes' "Fictional 15" wealthiest imaginary characters.</p>
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But despite his riches, McDuck still trails Microsoft founder Bill Gates' $53 billion.</p>
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Vampire-themed franchises have become big business, so it's no surprise that Carlisle Cullen, the 370-year-old vampire from the "Twilight" books and films who has been accruing interest on a small savings account since 1670, came in second with $36.2 billion.</p>
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A pair of over-achieving youngsters came in third. Artemis Fowl II, the prepubescent scion of an Irish crime family from Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl novels, was pegged at $13.5 billion, while the altruistically inclined comic book character Richie Rich totaled $9.7 billion.</p>
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To qualify for the list the characters must be known in their fictional stories and by their audiences for being rich.</p>
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"Net worth estimates are based on an analysis of the fictional character's source material, and where possible, valued against known real-world commodity and share price movements," Forbes said.</p>
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While the list, which Forbes editors have compiled since 2005, is all in fun, the process and resultant numbers are serious business, said special projects executive editor Michael Noer.</p>
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"We go to great lengths to calculate their net worth," Noer said in an interview. "It's similar to how we calculate real billionaires."</p>
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Market forces, especially commodities, also provided some guidance.</p>
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"McDuck was up over 30 percent, which is what gold has done this year, and his wealth is mostly in gold," Noer explained.</p>
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Similarly Jed Clampett, the country bumpkin who found black gold in the television series "The Beverly Hillbillies" benefited from rising oil prices for a $9.5 billion net worth.</p>
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Mr. Monopoly, the top-hatted, mustachioed character from the popular board game, placed ninth with $2.6 billion. The editors based his worth on the current value of Atlantic City real estate and a presumed percentage of property ownership.</p>
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The full list, with character profiles and sources of their wealth, can be found at www.forbes.com/fictional15.</p>
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(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Patricia)</p>
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