Provenance: the little folder that travels with a work
What is provenance in art? The story of where a work has been, with the papers to show it. What goes in the folder and how to start yours.
Avant.Dev Ventures · Vault
Art Certificates
Every work that leaves Avant.Dev leaves with a certificate of authenticity: frozen facts, a tamper-evident ledger, signatures backed by a verified ID, and a pass for your phone’s wallet. Yours to show. Never yours to expose.
The certificates of 10 works for sale, as they sit in Apple Wallet. Google Wallet carries the same passes.
La Tianguis Sexo Disidente III·Obvioquesi · Digital printing on transparent self-adhesive PVC and mounted on semi-rigid transparent PVC mica, 2022See the work →
from the art concierge
Art certificates of authenticity
Every work that leaves the gallery leaves with its certificate: what it says, and how to read one.
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Is it original? Three things to look at before you fall in love
How to tell if a work of art is original without being an expert: who answers for it, what paper comes with it and how to check it in a minute.
The certificate that travels with your work
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Fake galleries, invented artists, “investment” editions, overpayment tricks and pressure to pay in crypto. The seven scams we see and the single habit that stops all of them.
What is an art certificate, and what should yours say?
A certificate of authenticity is the document that follows a work for life. What it must contain, who signs it, and the six things a weak one leaves out.
why this, and not paper
The formal art market keeps provenance in drawers. We keep it with the collector.
A ledger, not a letter
Each certificate is a record whose every change is hashed against the previous one. Anyone with the QR can check that the chain holds; nobody can rewrite it.
Signatures that mean something
Three parties sign, each through a personal link, each optionally with a government ID verified by document and selfie. The email alone is never enough.
Privacy by default
The public page shows the work, the artist and the stamps. The owner, the price and the history are the owner’s to reveal, switch by switch.
Royalties that reach the artist
A transfer books the artist’s resale royalty in the same ledger. The artist sees it, and so does the gallery.
Made in Mexico City, for anywhere
Avant.Dev is a gallery and a technology studio. The Vault is the part of our practice that keeps a work’s story attached to the work.
verify a certificate
Scan the QR, or type the code.
The id is printed on the document and on the pass; the code sits under the QR. Paste either, or the whole link.