Certificate of authenticity to print
Certified work, certificate of authenticity!
Make sure that the work you have just acquired is certified authentic. Any work certified without exception is sold with a certificate of authenticity. This certificate makes it possible to declare, identify and authenticate a work and will have to follow it all its life. It allows an additional identification and plays an important role in the appreciation of the work.
An ancient concern
If the notion of forgery goes back to antiquity, it is interesting to see that the notion of authenticity only begins to have its importance from the Renaissance. Indeed, under antiquity, the Romans had already realized that by making copies of Greek statues they could benefit. Profit that always guides today this will to copy identically, to create 'false' and thus to deceive the buyer. The difference is that at the time the evil seemed to be less, for the work itself was attached more to the work than to the artist.
This notion of authenticity, if it immediately evokes in us the idea of a certificate of authenticity, knows no general and precise definition on the art market. It is based on very laxity of regulatory texts, on jurisprudence and on professional practices. In this respect, the Marcus Decree of 3 March 1981 gives us some succinct rules on the particulars which must be found in a certificate of authenticity, or at least in the document accompanying the sale of the work: 'nature, Composition, origin and seniority of the thing sold '.
Work certified in a few points
In practice, here are the main notions that must be found in a certificate of authenticity, a kind of 'identity card of the work':
The name of the artist
The professional numbers (Maison des Artistes, SIRET, SIREN, ...)
A photo of the work
The title
The dimensions
The technique and materials used
The support
The date of creation
The location of the signature
The identification number for a work from a series (for photos, for example)
The number of copies made if it comes from a limited edition
The artist's signature (official stamp, digital print)
The date of issue of the certificate
MyArtMakers - certified work - Examples
MyArtMakers - certified work - Examples
A prime value
Attention, the price of the work must not be indicated on the certificate of authenticity! Also, it is not useful to mention the name of the buyer on a certificate because if the latter decides one day to sell the work, he will be able to provide the accompanying certificate of authenticity.
The artist remains the most competent person to establish a certificate of authenticity, although all professionals in the art sector (gallery owner, auctioneer or expert) can write certificates.
This certificate of authenticity is to be kept as no duplicates can be issued. In case of loss of the buyer, the author of the certificate will be able to provide a certificate specifying who is the original purchaser of the work and that there is no other one of the same reference.
Authenticity has today acquired a primordial value, giving pride of place to the certificate of authenticity and the reasoned catalogs which continue to multiply. The art market has thus become aware that a work is also and above all a name, that of the artist that is affixed to it. The work now exists only through the prism of its author, who according to his renown or his mediatization determines the price of the work.
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