It also makes him a Pied Piper of art, attracting participants to his classes, which he has taught four times before, and wrangling clients to his art consultancy, which includes individual and corporate collectors.

Over the years, he has been something of a corporate collector, assembling niche brands with high visibility but slow growth.

"Al Held is not only with the corporate collectors up above," Ms. Bloodworth said, referring to the various headquarters towers overhead.

The gallery advises private and corporate collectors as well as artists' estates.

Art valuation involves comparing data from multiple sources such as art auction houses, private and corporate collectors, curators, art dealer activities, gallerists (gallery owners), experienced consultants, and specialized market analysts to arrive at a value.

A major corporate collector of art, the financial firm Paine Webber lends the lobby of its headquarters to cultural institutions in the New York area that could not otherwise afford to rent exhibition space in midtown Manhattan.

In New Jersey, Prudential remains the giant among corporate collectors.

For nearly a decade after graduating from college, he worked as a fine art photographer, selling his work to corporate and private collectors in the United States and abroad.

Not that it would benefit her to do so, for her meticulously stippled images have earned her 10 awards and attracted the attention of three times as many corporate collectors.

Art insurers say private and corporate collectors usually insure each work they own for a fixed value, but museums and dealers generally do not.