Understanding Certificates Of Authenticity

A certificate of authenticity is easy to file away and forget — until the day a work needs to be insured, appraised or resold, at which point it becomes the single most important piece of paper attached to the painting.

What it actually establishes

The certificate ties a specific physical work — by title, dimensions and often a photograph — directly to the artist who made it, at the point of sale. It's the document an insurer, appraiser or future buyer uses to confirm the work is what it's claimed to be, rather than taking a seller's word for it.

Why it matters more over time, not less

At the point of purchase, provenance feels almost redundant — you were there, you know where it came from. Ten or twenty years later, after the work may have changed hands, been rehung by a different owner, or simply been forgotten about, the certificate is what reconnects the physical object to its history. Losing it doesn't make a work worthless, but it makes reconstructing provenance far harder than keeping the original document ever would have been.

Keeping it usable

Store it somewhere separate from the painting itself — a fire or flood that damages the artwork can just as easily destroy paperwork stored alongside it. A photograph of the certificate, kept digitally, is a reasonable backup. Every original sold through this studio ships with one as standard; if a certificate for an earlier purchase has been misplaced, [contact the studio](/contact) directly to discuss what can be reissued.