Insurer Probes the Who and What of Collecting

Some people do still collect, in fact the number of collectors may be more than ever. Insurer AXA Art recently released a survey revealing a rapidly expanded art market over the last decade as well as notable numbers of new collectors in advancing economies.

The survey of 1,000 international collectors revealed four distinct categories of collectors, the art aficionado (37%), traditionalists (16%), investors (24%) and hybrid collectors (23%).

The average collector is an educated male aged 40-69. One in ten had collections valued over $1,000,000, but almost half remained silent about the value. Sixty-five percent collected using gut instinct, while only five percent followed the advice of a curator. And good news for shows, almost all (95 percent) said they used the web for research before an actual acquisition and 34 percent used the internet for purchases. A greater number (45 percent) refused to make purchases online.