he Service Gap: What’s Missing?
While individuals may enjoy access to a broad range of financial, legal, and estate planning services, those services often fail to address the unique complexities of collecting. A fine art collector may work with a wealth manager who lacks familiarity with the nuances of valuation and provenance. Their estate attorney may not understand how to plan for the succession of a fractionalized, internationally sourced collection. Their insurance advisor may fail to cover certain categories of collectible risk.
This disconnect is more than a nuisance—it creates costly problems. Improper valuation can lead to IRS audits or underinsured losses. Estate plans that treat collections like ordinary assets risk family conflict, unexpected taxes, and forced liquidation. Inadequate record-keeping can result in a permanent loss of provenance records, diminishing value and transferability. These problems are symptoms of a deeper issue: a lack of integrated, expert-driven services tailored specifically to the collector.
Fragmentation: The Root Cause
At the heart of this service gap lies fragmentation. The collector must navigate a complex ecosystem of siloed professionals—attorneys, appraisers, wealth advisors, tax planners, dealers, curators, and insurers—each with a narrow field of expertise, few of whom speak the same language. These professionals often operate independently, without a shared framework for managing the collection as both an investment and a legacy asset.
Compounding the issue is the lack of institutional infrastructure. Unlike public companies or even family businesses, collections are not managed by teams with centralized oversight. No single professional is tasked with coordinating the acquisition strategy, tracking condition reports, updating insurance schedules, preparing for succession, and managing liquidity. The result is ad hoc decision-making and planning gaps that expose the collector to risk—and ultimately reduce the long-term value of the collection.
The Need for a New System of Service
To solve this, we don’t need more specialists—we need a different system. One that treats the collection not as a hobby or side note but as a strategic asset class requiring multi-disciplinary management.
This new model must be integrated, bringing together legal, tax, insurance, valuation, and curatorial expertise under a coordinated framework. It must be proactive, offering forward-looking planning rather than reacting to crises. And it must be relationship-based, anchored in an advisor who understands the collector’s values, legacy goals, and unique interests—not just their balance sheet.
Some family offices and private banks are starting to fill this gap, but most remain focused on traditional assets. What’s needed is a Collector’s Office—a hybrid of estate planner, asset manager, curator, and consigliere—designed for the collector, by professionals who know the territory.
Looking Ahead
As the art and collectibles market continues to grow—expected to reach nearly $500 billion globally by 2028—this service gap will become even more costly. The collectors who succeed in preserving both the financial and cultural value of their collections will be those who adopt a more integrated, intentional approach to management.
The time for a new service model is now. The value of the collection deserves nothing less.
If you’re a professional serving UHNW collectors—or a collector yourself—looking to bridge this gap, I invite you to join my virtual Mastermind Group. This is a peer forum for exchanging best practices, collaborating on real-world cases, and developing innovative solutions tailored to collectors and their advisors. Email me at m.erskine@erskineco.com to learn more and reserve your spot.
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