Also called: Department Specialist
Finds, evaluates, and sells rare objects—art, jewelry, comics, wine, dinosaur fossils—at auction houses.
Flies to inspect a private collection of rare watches, researches their history, writes the catalog, and helps run the live auction.
Estimate; top specialists earn large bonuses.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in art history or a specialty; deep expertise matters most.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Art History, Business.
Growing about average (about 2% over 10 years). Estimate.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. Online bidding and AI cataloging grow; spotting rare objects and courting collectors stay human expertise.
Classes: AP Art History, Speech and debate, French or Italian.
Official data: O*NET occupation 41-9099.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.