Here's a ranking of bag collectors worldwide, garnered from claims and bags listed on their websites. These are numbers of unique bags - it does not include duplicates.
All of this information is hopelessly outdated (especially my own), and baggists have been known to inflate their bag numbers in order to attract envy (or deflate their figures in order to lull competitors into a false sense of security).
There is no universally accepted way of counting unique bags. Some baggists collect anything that might conceivably contain human and even animal wastes (including sanitary bags and dogshit bags). I admit that I'm one of these.
Other baggists collect only logoed bags from airlines. They eschew plain white or generic bags, and won't even look at bags from buses, trains or boats.
Some bag taxonomists (the "splittists") spot minute differences between two apparently identical bags, while others (the "lumpers") are happy to accept two bags with radically different ink colours as the same.
This list does not include several major players in the baggame, including Denir Lima de Camargo and Matthias Koch. I eagerly await their figures.
The ranking is based on total figures of bags claimed by each collector. These numbers have not been verified by InterBag, the World Bagtrade Organization, the Royal Society for the Protection of Bags, or the International Federation of Organic Bagriculture Movements - or indeed, by anyone else. Please note that I accept absolutely no responsibility for any errors in this list. If you spot one, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!
Data from email, website, other.
yellow and 
show most recent movements in the ranking.
Grey shows baggists who have given up baggery - one hopes to go on to more sensible avocations.
gives the collector's eBay name.
Thanks to all who have helped compile this list. Updated 26 Apr2014.
Collection bagometer
| Name, location, website | Bags | Air-lines | Coun-tries | Remarks, date Date of email or visit to website |
||
| 1 | |
Niek Vermeulen, Netherlands guinnessworldrecords.com, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
~6500 | 1142 | >160 | Includes only "optically different" bags with printed company name or logo. "No apples and oranges" 5 Jan 13 Guinness Book of World Records 2013 6290 certified by Guinness, 28 Feb 12 |
| 2 | |
Bruce Kelly, Alaska, USA kellysairsicknessbags.com |
6001 | 1267 | 183 | Includes 273 generic, 198 boat, 61 train, 92 road and 303 miscellaneous bags 14 Feb 14 |
| 3 | |
Oliver Conradi, Germany baghecht.de |
5792 | 1399 | 179 | 30 Oct 09 Bild Zeitung, 30 Oct 2009 |
| 4 | |
Gerhard Lang, Germany baghecht.de 19lange81 |
4065 | 829 | Includes 249 generics and 290 bags from boats, buses and movies. 04 Jan 10 |
|
| 5 | |
Gerd Clemens, Germany | 4002 |
1014 |
169 |
Includes 250 generics, boat and train bags. 1 Aug 13 |
| 6 | |
Thomas Homer Goetz, Denmark airsicknessbags.dk |
3936 | 1052 | 173 |
Airsickness bags only, no generics. |
| 7 | |
Jaromír Král, Czech Republic | 3069 | 839 | 23 Dec 12 | |
| 8 | |
Thorsten Hecht, Germany baghecht.de |
3004 | Only airsickness bags. 26 Feb 12 |
||
| 9 | |
Janusz Tichoniuk, Poland yahodeville.com |
3000 | 1020 | 157 | All types of barfbags included. No doggy and ladies stuff. 11 Feb 14 |
| 10 | |
Walter Brinker, Germany, Germany bagstage.org |
2823 | 1145 | 190 | "No generics, no ship, no doggies. As a lumper I have no chance of getting into the top 10" 21 Jan 14 |
| Name, location, website | Bags | Air-lines | Coun-tries | Remarks, date | ||
| 11 | |
Paul Mundy, Germany bagophily.com |
2684 | 664 | 147 | Includes bus, boat, train, promo, hygiene and dogbags. 19 May 07 (embarrassingly outdated) |
| 12 | |
Fredy Thürig, Switzerland thuerig.ch/ASB_main.htm |
~2500 | 5 Jan 13 Includes train, bus and ship bags |
||
| 13 | |
David Bradford, New Zealand/UK | 2468 | 779 | Plus 65 seasick bags from 42 shipping lines, and an album of others. 2 Mar 08 |
|
| 14 | |
Steve Silberberg, USA airsicknessbags.com stevebo |
2464 | Includes 340 non-airline bags and generics. 14 Jan 14 |
||
| 15 | |
Aidan Stradling, UK sickbagexamples.webeden.co.uk |
2048 | 633 | 144 | Airline bags only 24 May 08 |
| 16 | |
Rainer Schwartz, Germany rainer-schwartz.de.tl |
1780 | 677 | 146 | Plus 58 train, boat, generic, misc bags 23 Jan 14 |
| 17 | |
Roger Macrae, UK | 1744 | 693 | 157 | Airline bags only, no generics or military. 24 May 07 |
| 18 | |
Rune Tapper, Sweden sicksack.com |
1550 | 535 | 139 | 29 Jan 13 |
| 19 | |
Wolfgang Franken, Germany airsicknessbags.de |
1524 | 644 | 154 | Airline bags only. 1602 bags to swap. 2 Feb 10 |
| 20 | |
Bob Grove, USA baggistbobgrove.htm |
1475 | Includes 9 novelty, 21 boat, no generics. Does not count bags with different phone numbers or slight differences in logo placement. 29 Jan 13 |
||
| Name, location, website | Bags | Air-lines | Coun-tries | Remarks, date | ||
| 21 | |
David Shomper, USA www.RockyMountainBarfbags.com |
1390 | 547 | 135 |
16 Jan 14 |
| 22 | |
Vidas Vekerotas, Lithuania tinyurl.com/5ul3jf3 wekidas |
1307 | 504 | 142 | Includes 1204 airline bags, 31 generic, 12 boat, 3 train, 7 movie, 7 party, 17 other. 17 Jan 14 |
| 23 | |
Mark Brace, UK | 1269 | 419 | 120 | Includes 1174 airline, 42 boat, 12 bus, 6 train and 33 novelty bags. Does not include 32 dogshit and 108 other disposal bags 26 Jan 13 |
| 24 | |
Frank Mulliri, Norway | 1058 | Airline bags with logo or name only. 22 Jan 14 |
||
| 25 | |
Toshiaki Anan, Japan airsicknessbags.jp |
1028 | 432 | 123 | 28 Jan 13 |
| 26 | |
Alan Howlett, Germany bagland.de |
922 | 2 Jun 09 | ||
| 27 | |
Ed Sluimer, Netherlands www.airsicknessbags.nl |
920 | 409 | 127 | Airlines only, no generics 15 Jan 14 |
| 28 | |
Jürgen Klein, Germany juergen-klein |
915 | 399 | 133 | Airsickness bags only. 6 Jan 13 |
| 29 | |
Earl Waibel, USA sickbagman.com |
860 | 449 | Bought Steve James's collection, which is listed in this website. Airline bags only, no generics. 17 Feb 06 |
|
| 30 | |
Fulvio Dossena, Italy fulviodossena.it/bags/ |
822 | 14 Jan 14 | ||
| Name, location, website | Bags | Air-lines | Coun-tries | Remarks, date | ||
| 31 | |
Marc de Kort, Belgium |
815 | 355 | 25 Apr 14 Took over collection of Tom de Kort |
|
| 32 | |
Leszek Szałapak, Poland ion-tichy.republika.pl/ iontichy7 |
813 | 372 | 117 | 17 Apr 11 |
| Steve James, UK | 800 | Collection bought by Earl Waibel | ||||
| 33 | |
Stuart Hickson, UK | 779 | 411 | Includes 12 ferry bags and 21 generics 1 May 06 |
|
| 34 | |
Xusheng Chen, China | 775 | 327 | 112 | 26 Apr 14 |
| 35 | |
Graham Curran, UK vomitorium.co.uk |
758 | 16 Feb 06 | ||
| Chris Hays, UK bag-hobby.com |
724 | 18 Oct 06 Gave up baggery to concentrate on rock music. Part of collection acquired by David Bradford |
||||
| 36 | |
Gilles Beger, France | 720 | Planes only. 27 Feb 06 |
||
| 37 | |
Christian Annyas, Netherlands annyas.nl/inflight/ |
679 | 321 | 104 | 16 Feb 06 |
| 38 | |
Petr Manda, Czech Republic airsicknessbags.czechian.net |
600+ | 8 Jan 13 Estimated | ||
| 39 | |
Daniel Kahleyss, Germany mitglied.lycos.de/daniel_ka/ |
527 | 310 | 136 | 11 May 06 |
| 40 | |
Jan Tomášek, Czech Republic blici-pytliky.czechian.net |
506 | 276 | 107 | 27 Feb 08 |
| Rasmus Møller Sørensen, Denmark home11.inet.tele.dk/rasbe/ indexuk.html |
500 | 150 | Website not updated since 1998. Complete collection taken over by Homer Goetz in 1999. | |||
| 41 | |
Federico Mandrile, Italy federicomandrile.wix.com |
487 | 29 May 13 | ||
| Name, location, website | Bags | Air-lines | Coun-tries | Remarks, date | ||
| 42 | |
Rolf Thalmann, Germany www.rolf-thalmann.de/kt/ |
426 | 184 | 80 | Includes 23 non-airline bags 5 Apr 11 |
| 43 | |
Stefan Peterseim, Germany barfbagbox.tk facebook twitter |
401 | 212 | 80 | 4 Jan 12 |
| 44 | |
Chen Yinghao, Singapore www.airsicknessbags.sg |
388 | 186 | 81 | 20 Apr 10 |
| 45 | |
Sam Green, Israel fortunecity.com/oasis/ belize/387/ |
376 | 16 Feb 06 | ||
| 46 | |
Guido Debenedetti, Italy utenti.lycos.it/zioguido/ |
362 | 18 Feb 06 | ||
| 47 | |
Reiner Schulz, Germany bagistan.com |
342 | 16 Feb 06 | ||
| 48 | |
Nicola Carmignani, Italy maldaria.altervista.org |
270 | 172 | 68 | 19 Dec 10 |
| 49 | |
Harry Robertson, USA geocities.com/harryrob2000/ |
254 | 16 Feb 06 | ||
| 50 | |
Danny Cahalan, Australia http://tinyurl.com/6dq42la |
250 | 13 Apr 11 | ||
| Name, location, website | Bags | Air-lines | Coun-tries | Remarks, date | ||
| 51 | |
Russell Buckley, UK safety99.freeserve.co.uk |
248 | Unclear if this a complete list. 16 Feb 06 |
||
| 52 | |
Cédrick Gauthier-Lacognata, Italy cidricu.it |
224 | 137 | 67 | Includes 12 generic bags. 14 Jun 10 |
| 53 | |
John Campbell tinyurl.com/ap236ys |
~200 | Not all airline. 12 Feb 13 |
||
| 54 | |
Georg Jablonowski, Germany kotztueten-museum.de |
189 | 11 Mar 08 | ||
| 55 | |
Nicola Ottolini, Italy geocities.com/sickbagssite/ |
183 | 16 Feb 06 | ||
| 56 | |
Michel Silvera & Ludwig Gelobter, Panama | 180 | 26 Feb 06 | ||
| 58 | |
Rebecca D'Cruz, Malaysia | 170 | 17 Nov 08 | ||
| 58 | |
Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, Norway www.pvv.org/%7Ebct/spypose/ |
150 | 5 Apr 08 | ||
| 59 | |
Frederik Witte, Germany www.joinup.de/Kotztueten.htm |
137 | 107 | 26 Jan 07 | |
| 60 | |
Yonatan Chaim Mevorach, Israel barfbags.netfirms.com |
105 | 24 Sep 06 | ||
| Name, location, website | Bags | Air-lines | Coun-tries | Remarks, date | ||
| 61 | |
Eero Kouvalainen, Finland cc.oulu.fi/~emk/itstrue.html |
100+ | 18 Feb 06 | ||
| 62 | |
Frédéric Courtay, Belgium users.skynet.be/airsicknessbags/ |
100 | 68 | 37 | 16 Feb 06 |
| 63 | |
Kanako Ogawa, Japan airsicknessbags.jp/kanako/ kanakoindex.html |
100 | 13 Dec 07 | ||
| 64 | Robert Glick, USA http://tinyurl.com/caaff7b |
ca 100 | 1 Dec 11 | |||
| 65 | |
Kyoko Hagino-Tomioka, Japan www.geocities.co.jp/ SweetHome-Skyblue/6422/ gero/sickbag.html |
93 | 8 Feb 08 | ||
| Alan Radecki, USA | 86 | Collection donated to David Shomper in exchange for airline napkins, Feb 06 | ||||
| 66 | |
Sawada Ken, Japan utpala.org/indojin/gero/ |
89 | 16 Feb 06 | ||
| 67 | Michael Cooper, USA beachmat.berkeley.edu/~mike/ barfbags.html |
69 | 16 Feb 06 | |||
| 68 | Chas, UK chasworld.freeuk.com/codesick/ sicklist.htm |
62 | 16 Feb 06 | |||
| 69 | Max Sammet, Germany members.tripod.com/~barfbags/ main.htm |
52 | 16 Feb 06 | |||
| 70 | Takeshi and Tomoko Muto,Japan apollomaniacs.web.infoseek. co.jp/bags/indexe.htm |
50 | 16 Feb 06 | |||
| Name, location, website | Bags | Air-lines | Coun-tries | Remarks, date | ||
| 71 | |
Martin Zeil and Thomas Krämer, Germany kotztuete.net |
49 | 14 Jul 07 | ||
| 72 | Zarko Koneski, Macedonia | 45 | 10 Jan 02 | |||
| 73 | |
Ulrik Christensen, Denmark airsicknessbags.rocks.it |
43 | 18 Feb 06 | ||
| 74 | |
Luca Preziosa, Italy http://sachelidelgomet.blogspot.it/ |
27 | 21 | 16 | 23 Jan 14 |
| 75 | |
Arnaud Giraud, France |
20 | 31 Jan 09 | ||
| 76 | Mike Ismert, USA www.tns.lcs.mit.edu/~izzy/barfbag.html |
10 | 27 Feb 08 |