Thomas Reinshagen
DE/EN
Thomas Reinshagen, Independent Art and Luxury Goods Advisor
Over 30 years in the art and luxury goods market. Former head of Sotheby’s Zurich. Accredited by several reputable Swiss private banks and financial institutions.
“A collection tells not only of what it shows, but also of the person who assembled it.”
What drives me
Art and luxury goods are not products for me. They are the visible side of a long narrative about identity, taste and substance. Anyone building a collection makes decisions that reach far beyond the next auction price, and exactly those decisions are what I want to accompany.
My standard is to connect wealth with awareness. A collection should carry financially, but it should also resonate personally. It should preserve value, but it should also tell a story. In a market often shaped by surface and short-term trading, I offer what discerning collectors miss: calm, clarity, and an advisor whose only interest is the quality of your decision.
Where I am accredited today
My valuations and advisory are recognized by banks, insurers, tax authorities and financial institutions. I work today as an accredited advisor for several reputable Swiss private banks and financial institutions.
In addition, I am recognized by Swiss and international tax authorities for valuations, retained by insurance brokers for insurance reports, and mandated in inheritance, divorce and structuring matters by lawyers and trustees as an external collection lead.
Internationally, I am listed in the Spear’s 500 Index of leading wealth and art advisors.
My background
Born in Los Angeles, raised at Lake Zurich
I was born in Los Angeles, where my parents had emigrated in the 1960s. My mother Maria ran a gallery there, my father worked as an architect. Art was not a discipline I discovered later. It was, from the start, part of our living rooms and conversations.
I later grew up on Lake Zurich and went to school in the Zurich Seefeld district. Already as a teenager, I moved regularly in the spaces where my clients today buy or sell works. Not out of calculation, but because it was a given at home.
Studies and a first career in consumer marketing
I studied business with a focus on marketing at the University of St. Gallen (HSG). My first long-term position was at Nestlé, where I was responsible for marketing and sales of the newly introduced Nespresso brand. Positions followed at Lancaster in the beauty segment and at the Danish family company Pandora, where I held the management for Switzerland and Austria.
Those years taught me something rare in the classical art market: a systematic understanding of brands, consumers and premium segments. Anyone who wants clarity in the luxury market for watches or jewelry needs both sides: the understanding of the object and the understanding of the market in which it is valued.
Sotheby’s Zürich
In my late forties, I made a switch that looked unlikely from the outside. I applied at Sotheby’s auction house for a leadership position in Switzerland, without a classical auction career. What counted was a network, a lifelong connection to art and luxury goods, and experience in running international brands.
From December 2019, I led the Sotheby’s branch in Zurich. In that time, I learned the secondary market from inside: how works find their way into an auction, who buys them, what discretion in sensitive mandates really means, and which works are better never sold publicly.
Independent advisory in Zollikon
A few years ago my mother fell ill, and I wanted to set my own time and rhythm. From that came the step into independence, in which I work today as an independent advisor for art and luxury goods, based in Zollikon.
What has changed since then: I belong to no auction house, no gallery, no bank. I sell nothing from my own inventory. My fee comes exclusively from my clients, not from the other side of a transaction.
What I collect myself
Advisory without one’s own practice is rarely convincing in the high-end segment. For over three decades I have been collecting myself, in three areas:
- Contemporary art, with a focus on European positions from the postwar period to the present
- Photography, especially work series by documentary and conceptual photographers
- Watches, both historically significant collector pieces and contemporary manufactures
This own collector practice is not only a private matter. It means I know the questions my clients ask from my own experience: How do you handle restoration decisions? When does it pay to sell a work instead of lending against it? How do you transfer a collection to the next generation without cutting it apart? These questions I have not only thought through theoretically, but decided myself.
Publications, references and memberships
My work has been featured in:
- Spear’s 500, international index of art and wealth advisors
- GENTLEMAG, portrait on advisory practice and positioning
- Zolliker Zumiker Bote, biographical portrait titled “Wie man wird, was man ist” (“How one becomes what one is”), August 2025
- finews.ch, coverage of my appointment as head of Sotheby’s Zurich (December 2019)
- 50plus.ch, contribution on advisory in art and luxury goods
I am also a member of the collector network one33seven, and I cooperate with PoE Advisory on specific mandates where several disciplines come together.
Languages and international mandates
I work in German, English, French and Spanish. International mandates are routine, not exceptions. This applies to collectors who commute between several residences, as well as to cross-border inheritance, structuring or sale mandates. When needed, I coordinate with lawyers, trustees and tax advisors in the home jurisdiction of my clients and work with established partners in Zurich, London, New York, Paris and Hong Kong.
What I am not the right advisor for
Honesty is part of advisory. There are mandates I do not accept:
- Quick purchases without due diligence. Anyone who just wants to buy “something pretty” without engaging with provenance, market and line is better served by a gallery.
- Speculative works. Mandates aimed solely at short-term value development do not fit my way of working.
- Manipulative structures. When the purpose of a structuring is to conceal value from authorities, insurers or other parties, I say no clearly.
- Mandates without discretion. Anyone who wants to extract marketing value from advisory (publicity, press releases with work details) is in the wrong place with me.
This clarity is part of my positioning, not despite, but because of its consequences.
Get in touch
If you are building a collection, planning a sale, need a valuation, or are looking for a confidential sparring partner for a sensitive wealth question, write or call. The first conversation is confidential, free of charge and without obligation.
Direct contact:
+41 79 293 46 85
reinshagen@thomasreinshagen.com
Postal address:
Thomas Reinshagen Art and Luxury Consulting Dufourstrasse 26, CH-8702 Zollikon, Schweiz
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With over 30 years of experience in the art and luxury goods industry, I provide discreet and independent valuations for private clients, companies and institutions.
Services
Contact
- Thomas Reinshagen Art and Luxury Consulting. Zürich. Schweiz.
- +41 79 293 46 85
- reinshagen@thomasreinshagen.com
©2026 Thomas Reinshagen. All rights reserved.