Disaster can strike at any time.  Fire and flood can destroy your more precious acquisitions in minutes.  A thief can steal your most valuable assets while you’re out to dinner.  A hurricane can blow away treasures that may next be seen shredded in another county.  For these reasons and many others, it’s essential you have proof of what you once owned.  Such proof is known as provenance.

Good provenance will speed an insurance claim, be of enormous help in a police investigation and give owners great peace of mind.  Furthermore, in the art world, the value of the work may well be enhanced as well as protected by good art management practices.

• Typically, collectors’ records show specific details of each artwork, including the title of the work, name of the artist, the medium it was created in, its dimensions, whether its an original work, giclee or limited edition, date and place acquired and price paid.

• Such records almost always include at least one photograph, sometimes several showing the work from different angles, front and back or in various degrees of close-up.  Often a detailed photo of the artist’s signature and the work’s date is included.

• Good provenance will also include details about the artist, reviews and press coverage, sales history, appraisal and authentication.

• Careful collectors will have at least two copies of all provenance stored, whether on paper or disc, in separate locations, perhaps the house and the office, or with the bank or insurance company.

• Provenance should be reviewed on a regular basis.  If the work is by a living artist, a conscientious collector will continue to track the artist’s career to determine whether anything has changed that might affect value, plus or minus. If the artist is no longer living, the savvy collector will occasionally check the so-called secondary market for recent sale prices or call in a professional appraiser.

A good gallery will furnish much of this information at the time of acquisition or shortly thereafter.  If they do not, then a buyer shouldn’t hesitate to ask for it.  Having it, one day may prove to be invaluable if not to the collector then to their heirs or next owners.