The upper ten thousand or upper ten was the phrase coined by the american poet nathaniel parker willis in 1850 to refer to the captains of industry and uniquely self made aristocrats who willed america from an uncertain experiment into the global titan of the industrial age to honor their success and the national culture that sprung up around it the house of lubin has reimagined upper ten originally released in 1920 to represent the scent of the corridors of power upper ten is redo