What a certificate of authenticity should say

Every work that changes hands sooner or later meets the same question: how do we know? The answer is rarely a single document, but one document goes with the work everywhere, and it is worth knowing what a good one looks like before you need it.

The work, described so it cannot be confused

A certificate describes one object and only that one. Read it the way you would read a passport:

The artist, with the name they sign with.

The title and the year. “Untitled” is a title; a missing year is a question.

The technique and the support, separately: oil on linen, ink on cotton paper. “Mixed media” alone says very little.

The measures, height before width, and the depth for anything with a body.

Unique or edition: if it is an edition, its number and the size of the run, such as 3/25.

Where it is signed, and any inscription on the back.

Who stands behind it

A certificate is a promise, so it must say who is making it: the artist, the gallery that represents them, or both, with a date and a way to reach them. A signature with no name beside it, or a gallery that no longer exists and left no successor, is not a reason to panic, but it is a reason to ask more.

How anyone can check it

A good certificate has its own identity, a number or a code, and a way to confirm it with whoever issued it. Today that is often a QR code that opens a public page. That page should confirm the work and its artist. It should not tell the world who owns it.

What it should never carry

Your address. Your price. A promise about what the work will be worth. A certificate proves what a work is; it is not a valuation, and a document that speaks about future value is selling something else.

Three quiet warning signs

A photocopy, or a document that could describe any work by the same artist.

Measures or technique that do not match the work in front of you.

A certificate “reissued” after a sale, instead of the original one passed on with a new line in its history.

Questions we are asked

Is a certificate enough on its own?

It is the centre of a work’s papers, not all of them. The invoice, photographs of the work, exhibition records and letters all help. Keep them together.

Does the certificate change when I sell the work?

It should not be replaced. The same certificate goes with the work, and the change of hands is added to its history.

Every work that leaves our gallery leaves with a certificate like this one: this is how ours work. If you are an artist, the certificate wizard walks you through your first one, which is free.

If you would like company

This is what we do every day from Mexico City: help people find, buy and live with original contemporary art, with its papers in order. Book a free 30-minute call, or look at how our certificates work.