A certificate of authenticity is a signed document that says who made a work and describes it closely enough to tell it apart from any other. For an original, it gives your name, the title, the year, the medium and the size. It adds a photo of the work, a statement that the work is yours, your signature and the date. A print also needs its edition details. This guide covers what to put on it, how to match it to the work and the records to keep, with a sample you can copy.
What a certificate of authenticity is for
The buyer keeps the certificate with the work. Years later, it tells an insurer, an appraiser or the next owner what the piece is and who made it. Format's guide adds that it can also serve as a receipt and record of the sale, for you and for the buyer.
A certificate is only as trustworthy as the person who signs it. Artlogic's guide for galleries and artists makes the point plainly: a certificate carries only as much authority as whoever stands behind it. For your own work, that's you. So be exact: a certificate with the wrong size or a vague medium raises doubts instead of settling them.
What to put on a certificate of authenticity
Artlogic's guide gives a minimum list: the artist, the title, the date of creation, the medium, the dimensions and the edition where there is one. It adds who issued the certificate, their signature, the date of issue, their contact details and a photo of the work. In practice, for your own work:
- Your name, written the way you sign your work
- The title, and the year you made it
- The medium, specific enough to identify the work later: oil on linen, not just painting
- The size, with the unit, saying which number is the height and which the width
- The edition, if it's a print
- A photo of the front of the work
- A short statement that the work is original and that you made it
- Your signature and the date you issue the certificate
- How to reach you: your website or email
Add what makes this piece unlike any other: where you signed it, and anything written on the back. The photo matters most when things go wrong. As Format's guide notes, it helps identify the work if it's ever separated from its certificate.
Give each certificate a number, and use the work's inventory number if it has one. Artlogic notes that a reference number links the paper certificate to the issuer's own records.
Add the edition details for prints
For a print, the certificate says what the edition is. Format's guide says to list how many prints were made and which number this one is. If the edition is open, say that too. Give both media: the medium of the original and the print process, such as a giclée print of an oil painting. And give the number of artist's proofs, so the buyer knows how many prints exist in all.
Print publishers take edition sizes seriously. In our interview with Tamsin Nugent of Red T Multiples, she explains that each original her company works with can be printed only 100 times. The cap keeps the prints' value and exclusivity.
If you sell prints in California
Some places put this into law. California's law on fine prints covers prints, photographs and sculpture casts made in more than one copy. It applies when one is sold into or from the state for one hundred dollars or more, not counting the frame. Dealers must give the buyer a certificate of authenticity. Artists who sell their own prints must give the same information.
The certificate must state, among other things:
- The artist's name, and whether the print is signed by the artist
- The medium or process
- The year it was printed
- For a limited edition, the maximum number of signed or numbered prints, of unsigned or unnumbered prints, and of proofs, and the total size of the edition
In that law, a print counts as signed only if you signed it by hand after it was printed. A signature in the plate doesn't count. Every certificate must also carry a statement that all its information is true and correct. And the size of a limited edition counts as an express warranty. It promises that no more prints of the same image, proofs included, have been made in this edition or any other limited one.
Other places may have rules of their own, so check where you sell.
Sign it, number it and match it to the work
- Sign each certificate by hand, in ink. A printed signature proves nothing.
- Print it on good, heavy paper rather than standard printer paper, as Format suggests.
- Write the certificate's number on the back of the work too, on a label or in pencil, so the two can be matched.
- Security features such as embossed seals or holograms make a certificate harder to copy, Artlogic notes, but they can't make up for weak details.
- Give it with the work. Format suggests including one with every work that leaves your studio, and mailing it to the buyer when you sell online.
Keep a copy of every certificate
Artlogic advises artists and galleries to keep a copy of every certificate they issue. If a buyer loses theirs, or someone asks years later whether a certificate is genuine, your copy is the answer.
Note the buyer, the date and the certificate's number next to the work's details. Never issue two certificates for the same work. If you replace a lost one, mark it as a replacement, with the number and date of the original.
Make it from the artwork's record
A certificate is only as accurate as the record you copy it from. In Canvy's Artwork Manager, each artwork keeps its medium, dimensions, creation date and price, with an inventory number and a private note, in a private library only you can see.
Canvy can also make the certificate. In the artwork's Print tab, it fills one in: the picture, your name, the title, year, medium and size, and if you like, the price and description. It states that the piece is your original work, with lines to sign and date by hand, a certificate number and your contact details. You download it as an A4 PDF, portrait or landscape, with its text in English. It's included on every plan, Free too.
- Check the record before you print, so the certificate matches the work.
- Use the private note for the buyer and the date you issued the certificate.
- When the work sells, change its availability to sold.
A certificate of authenticity checklist
- Your name, the title, the year, the medium and the size
- A photo of the front of the work
- For prints: the edition number and size, and the proofs
- A statement that the work is original and yours
- A certificate number that matches the work's inventory number
- Your signature in ink, and the date
- Your website or email
- A copy kept in your own records
Questions artists ask
Do I have to give a certificate of authenticity?
For an original, it's usually your choice. Prints can be different: California, for one, requires the information above for prints sold into or from the state. Check the rules where you sell.
Can a certificate be digital?
Yes, if it carries the same details and you keep a copy. For a physical work, a signed paper certificate that travels with it is easier for the next owner to keep.
Should I use a template?
Yes. A template keeps every certificate consistent. Fill in your name, contact details and statement once, then add each work's details as you go.
Want a certificate filled in for every work you sell? Make it in Artwork Manager. Canvy is free to start.
