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Certificates of Authenticity required for prints sold in California
The Los Angeles Times reports a lawsuit filed against the temporary Louis Vuitton boutique created to sell Takashi Murakami products in the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art. According to the Times, the Vuitton luxury shop failed to provide the collector with the proper documentation in the form of a Certificate of Authenticity for the the Murakami prints he purchased there.
Do you know what a Certificate of Authenticity is? Did you know that it is required by law to be provided upon collector request when purchasing a multiple in the State of California? Why should you care?
A Certificate of Authenticity, as defined by California Civil Code Section 1740-1745 is a written or printed description of the multiple sold, exchanged, or consigned by an art dealer.
A Multiple, as defined by this same California Civil Code is any fine print, photograph (positive or negative), sculpture cast, collage, or similar art object produced in more than one copy.
Why should you care? As an artist creating multiples, full disclosure to your collectors reflects your professional, best-practice approach to your art business. It shows that you take care to document and record each artwork multiple that you create. For the collector, a Certificate of Authenticity is documentation that the art and artist is credible and provides you with additional information about the multiples you are collecting.
I admit that providing COAs for each multiple can be a bit of a headache, but in the end, it’s time well spent. By completing this process I can be assured that the collector has the paperwork required by California law, and that I have the information necessary for good record keeping.
I find that many artists do not bother with COAs for their multiple work, and don’t understand the California legal requirement. It seems to me that any artist or dealer selling multiples would be better served to understand the basics. It’s unfortunate, in the case of the Vuitton boutique, that even multi-million dollar corporations haven’t taken the time to understand California requirements.
As an artist, do you provide COA’s for your multiples? As a collector, why is the COA important to you? Share your comments here:
Do you know what a Certificate of Authenticity is? Did you know that it is required by law to be provided upon collector request when purchasing a multiple in the State of California? Why should you care?
A Certificate of Authenticity, as defined by California Civil Code Section 1740-1745 is a written or printed description of the multiple sold, exchanged, or consigned by an art dealer.
A Multiple, as defined by this same California Civil Code is any fine print, photograph (positive or negative), sculpture cast, collage, or similar art object produced in more than one copy.
Why should you care? As an artist creating multiples, full disclosure to your collectors reflects your professional, best-practice approach to your art business. It shows that you take care to document and record each artwork multiple that you create. For the collector, a Certificate of Authenticity is documentation that the art and artist is credible and provides you with additional information about the multiples you are collecting.
I admit that providing COAs for each multiple can be a bit of a headache, but in the end, it’s time well spent. By completing this process I can be assured that the collector has the paperwork required by California law, and that I have the information necessary for good record keeping.
I find that many artists do not bother with COAs for their multiple work, and don’t understand the California legal requirement. It seems to me that any artist or dealer selling multiples would be better served to understand the basics. It’s unfortunate, in the case of the Vuitton boutique, that even multi-million dollar corporations haven’t taken the time to understand California requirements.
As an artist, do you provide COA’s for your multiples? As a collector, why is the COA important to you? Share your comments here:
Tags: authenticity, certificate, la, louis, moca, murakami, of, takash, vuitton
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