Thomas Reinshagen

DE/EN

Thomas Reinshagen, Independent Art and Luxury Goods Advisor

Over 30 years in the art and luxury goods market. Former Senior Director at Sotheby’s Zurich. Accredited adviser to leading Swiss private banks.

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“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 be financially sound, 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 often miss: calm, clarity, and an adviser whose only interest is the quality of your decision.

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Where I am accredited today

My valuations and advisory are recognised by banks, insurers, tax authorities and financial institutions. Today I work as an accredited adviser to leading Swiss private banks.

In addition, I am recognised by Swiss and international tax authorities for valuations, retained by insurance brokers for insurance reports, and engaged by lawyers and trustees as an external collection lead in inheritance, divorce and structuring matters.

Internationally, I am listed in the Spear’s 500 Index of leading wealth and art advisers.

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 grew up on Lake Zurich and went to school in Zurich’s Seefeld district. Even as a teenager, I regularly moved in the circles where my clients today buy or sell works. Not by design, but because it came naturally 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 was managing director for Switzerland and Austria.

Those years taught me something rare in the traditional art market: a systematic understanding of brands, consumers and premium segments. Anyone who wants clarity in the luxury market for watches or jewellery needs both sides: the understanding of the object and the understanding of the market in which it is valued.

Sotheby’s Zurich

In my early fifties, I made a switch that looked unlikely from the outside. I applied to Sotheby’s auction house for a leadership position in Switzerland, without a conventional 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 was responsible for Sotheby’s business in Zurich as Senior Director. In that time, I learned the secondary market from the 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 I decided to set my own time and rhythm. That led me to go independent: today I work as an independent adviser 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

In the high-end segment, advice from someone who does not collect is rarely convincing. For over three decades I have been collecting myself, in three areas:

Contemporary art, with a focus on European positions from the post-war period to the present
Photography, especially work series by documentary and conceptual photographers
Watches, both historically significant collector pieces and contemporary manufactures

My own collecting is not just 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? I have not only thought these questions through in theory – I have had to answer them myself.

Collage: collectors viewing a modern painting and three classic Porsches

Publications, references and memberships

My work has been featured in:

Spear’s 500, international index of art and wealth advisers
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 at 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.

Thomas Reinshagen, independent art adviser in Zurich, in front of a painting

Languages and international mandates

I work in German, English, French and Spanish. International mandates are routine, not the exception. 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 advisers in the home jurisdiction of my clients and work with established partners in Zurich, London, New York, Paris and Hong Kong.

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, Switzerland

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Typical mandates

Anonymised – discretion is part of the mandate.

Private placement

Discreet sale of a significant post-war work for a private collection in Switzerland. Off-market, a few qualified parties, negotiation solely on behalf of the seller – no auction, no publicity.

Estate

Valuation of a mixed collection of art, watches and jewellery for an executor. Inventory and market values for the division of the estate, recognised by the tax authority and the bank; subsequently the discreet sale of individual works.

Family office

Building a collection strategy for a family office: a clear line, a complete inventory, current insurance values and an acquisition plan for the coming years – as an external collection officer.

With over 30 years of experience in the art and luxury goods industry, I provide discreet, independent and market-based valuations for private clients, companies and institutions.

Services

Art and luxury valuation

Collection strategy and management

Buying and selling of luxury goods

Art lending and art leasing

Contact

Thomas Reinshagen
Art and Luxury Consulting
Dufourstrasse 26
CH‑8702 Zollikon
+41 79 293 46 85
reinshagen@thomasreinshagen.com