Why is it useful to acquire art objects with a certificate of authenticity?
When buying works of art objects, including those created by artists representing modern art, it is important for the buyer to get a guarantee that the work he bought is genuine. For this artist or art dealer issues a certificate of authenticity of the work. Let’s talk about this in more detail.
What is a certificate of authenticity? This is a document proving the originality of the work, he confirms the authorship of the work, the fact that it was actually created by the artist, who is listed as the author. It contains all the information about the work: the name, year of creation, materials used in its creation, the size of the work, posted her photo, and, of course, the name of the author and his signature, provides for the degree of protection. In case you purchase, for example, a work of photography, published in a limited series, then there should be a copy number.
Certificates for the purchase of works of art can be issued by those who sell it – galleries, contemporary artists, private sellers. They are also issued when selling at auctions, including online auctions, if you decide to buy a painting online, for example, eBay and LiveAuctioneers. When buying a job, it is important to clarify whether a certificate is issued for it, and when it is issued, whether it contains all the above elements.
If we are talking about the works of artists of the past, whether they are well-known artists of past eras, or their not so eminent colleagues, then the certificate can be signed by a qualified, authoritative expert-art critic. How much he has authority and recognition will help to inquire online.
In any case, it is important to check the availability of the certificate and familiarize yourself with its content before acquiring the work. The certificate must be an original document. The certificate must contain contact information from the signatory. If the contact information is outdated and you cannot contact it with an artist or expert, this is not a reason to worry – the phone or e-mail could change. Ask the gallery or the person who sells you the work to give the actual contact. If you acquire a work of art “with history”, then it is also good if a document with the names of previous owners, art dealers or the names of galleries that sold it in the past is attached to it.
Such work should be mentioned in catalogs, and art historians should know about it – experts on the work of a particular author or a certain period of art. The history of the work, or as experts say – provenance – is very important to determine the authenticity of the work. The gallery has this information, but for safety reasons you can also contact independent experts who can indicate who owned this work earlier and how it turned out to be in the gallery where you are going to buy it. Additional confirmation of the authenticity of the art object can be information about its participation in art exhibitions or sales at well-known auctions. It is also a big plus if the work is mentioned in specialized literature, for example, memoirs, catalogs of the artist or art historian. In this kind of literature, not only the names of famous artists are mentioned.
The reputation of the art dealer or gallery where you buy art is also important; ask this question and make sure you can deal with them.
The certificate of authenticity can be useful not only for the collector of art, but also for its author. There may be a dispute about the authenticity of the work and authorship, but by contacting the gallery selling the work, the artist can dispel such doubts.
When purchasing art objects in the Jose Art Gallery online gallery, each of them is given a certificate, both in paper and electronic format in PDF format. It contains the image of the acquired object, the name of the work, the name of the author, a list of materials from which the object was created, its dimensions, year of creation, the author’s signature. The printed version is accompanied by a holographic gallery sticker.
Such confirmation of the authenticity of the acquired works will be quite useful to protect your investment in art.
