"Part of the message is, We're such big collectors that we even have art in our child's room," he said.

It can get a bit thick, though, when big collectors start playing one-upmanship.

These big collectors are buying to enjoy, and don't need the Getty to tell them what to buy.

The Japanese are now the biggest collectors of neon.

"I was talking to a very big collector who has very sophisticated paintings," he said.

Here are three of the biggest collector's sets coming out over the holiday season:

I'm a big collector of carousel horse pictures and information.

So the market can be controlled by a big collector of one government.

I'd like this to be a bigger company but we're not big collectors of gongs, frankly.

He also began collecting oil paintings, becoming by most accounts the biggest collector in China today.