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“Concierge for art collectors” is a phrase people search for when they have arrived at a certain point: the collection has grown beyond what one person can keep in their head, the paperwork lives in three places, the insurer wants an updated inventory, a bank has asked about lending against the works, and an adult child has started asking what will happen to it all one day. What they are looking for is not a gallery and not an auction house, but someone on their own side of the table who takes care of everything the collection needs, without wanting to sell them anything.
This article describes what that role involves in practice, where it differs from an art dealer or a gallery, and how to judge whether the person offering it is genuinely independent.
What a private art adviser actually does
The best description is that of an external head of collection. A company of a certain size has a CFO; a collection of a certain size needs someone who fulfils the same function for the works. In practice that covers five areas.
Inventory and documentation. Every work with photograph, dimensions, provenance, literature, condition report and current location, kept up to date and available to insurers, banks, tax advisers and heirs. Most collections do not have this, and most problems later on trace back to that gap.
Valuation. Written, independent valuations for insurance, for lending, for tax purposes and for family decisions, updated at sensible intervals rather than once a decade. The three values involved are explained in Having pictures and paintings valued.
Acquisitions and sales. Finding the right work, checking it, negotiating the price and handling the transaction, or selling a work discreetly and off-market. The adviser represents the collector, not the counterparty. The routes are compared in Selling a collection: off-market, private sale or auction?
Structuring. Insurance cover that matches the actual values, storage and transport, lending against the collection where liquidity is needed, and the questions of inheritance, gifts and foundations that every collection eventually raises. This is done together with the collector’s lawyer, tax adviser and bank, not instead of them.
Being the single point of contact. When the insurer, the shipper, the restorer, the museum requesting a loan and the auction house specialist all want something, they deal with one person who knows the collection. The collector is consulted on decisions, not on logistics.
How this differs from a gallery or a dealer
A gallery or dealer is a seller. Their advice is honest within the limits of their business, but their business is to place the works they hold. An auction house specialist is there to win consignments. Both are legitimate and both are needed, but neither of them can be the person who tells you not to buy, not to sell, or that the work you were offered is not what it is claimed to be.
An independent adviser has no inventory of his own, holds no auction mandate and takes no commission from the other side. His fee comes from the collector, based on the work involved and agreed in advance. That is the only arrangement in which the advice can be unconditionally on the collector’s side. The differences between the three players are set out in more detail in Art advisory in Zurich: independent adviser vs. gallery and auction.
When it makes sense to engage someone
Not every collection needs an adviser. A few signs that the moment has come: nobody in the family can say with confidence what the collection is worth as a whole; the insurance inventory is more than five years old; works are stored in several places, some of them abroad; a purchase of significance is being considered without a second opinion; a private bank has raised the subject of lending; or an estate, a divorce or a relocation is approaching and the collection will have to be dealt with under time pressure.
How to judge independence
- Ask who pays the adviser and how. If the answer includes a share of the sale price from the buyer or seller on the other side, the adviser is a broker, not an adviser.
- Ask whether the adviser holds works for sale or has a consignment arrangement with a dealer or auction house.
- Ask which banks, insurers and tax authorities have accepted the adviser’s valuation reports. Accreditation with private banks is a useful signal because banks check.
- Ask for a written engagement that sets out scope, fee basis and confidentiality before any work starts.
How I work
I advise private collectors, family offices and estates from Zurich, in German, English, French and Spanish, and I am an accredited adviser to several Swiss private banks. My background is more than thirty years in the art and luxury goods market, including as Senior Director at Sotheby’s Zurich. I hold no inventory, no auction mandate, and I take no commission from the other side. The services are described under Collection strategy and management; a short confidential enquiry is all it takes to start a conversation.
