Sixty-nine of the 200 were from Europe, of which the United Kingdom contributed the largest number of names.
Thirteen of the top 200 names were from the UK. They were: David Bowie, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Peter Moores, Sami Ofer, Charles Saatchi, Wafic Said, the Sainsbury family, Isabel Goldsmith, Lawrence Graff (who was the one European name in the top ten), Elton John, Graham Kirkham and Jeffrey Steiner.
Sheikh Saud al-Thani, Sultan of Qatar is new to the list of top ten but is now considered to be the art world’s biggest spender buying in several categories particularly antiquities, Islamic art, photography, Impressionists, Old Masters, furniture, and jewellery.
USA leads the way as list of top 200 collectors shows
More than half of the world’s leading collectors are now based in the USA, according to a survey conducted by the New York-based magazine ARTnews. The 13th annual review of the world’s most active collectors of art and antiques – assembled through interviews with dealers, auctioneers, collectors, museum directors, curators, and consultants – found that 105 of the top 200 collectors are American with eight of the top ten spenders from the world’s superpower.
