What a certificate of authenticity is
A certificate of authenticity (COA) is a document stating that a work is genuine and made by the artist named. It typically identifies the work, the artist, and the person or body vouching for it. It is a statement of fact about a specific artwork — not a receipt, and not a valuation.
Crucially, a COA is only as good as the trust behind it and your ability to check it. A certificate that no one can verify is little more than a nicely printed claim.
What a good certificate contains
A strong certificate of authenticity records enough to identify the work unambiguously and to be checked later. Look for:
- The artist and the work's title, year, medium, and dimensions.
- For editions: the edition size, this copy's number, and the status of any proofs.
- A clear attribution — who made the work, stated plainly.
- An image or fingerprint that ties the certificate to a specific photograph of the work.
- Who issued the certificate, and a way to verify it independently.
- A unique reference so the certificate can be looked up and confirmed.
Why the traditional paper certificate fails
The classic COA — a signed letter on gallery paper — has three weaknesses. It is easy to lose, so it often goes missing between owners exactly when it is needed most. It is easy to forge, since a signature and a letterhead can be copied. And it is impossible to check remotely: to confirm it, you would have to track down and trust whoever issued it, who may no longer be reachable.
What a verifiable certificate adds
A verifiable certificate keeps everything useful about a COA and removes its fragility. It is cryptographically signed, so a forged or altered certificate simply fails to validate. It carries its own reference and QR code, so anyone can look it up. And it is tied to the work's append-only history and a daily, independently timestamped fingerprint of the registry, so its history can't be quietly rewritten.
The verification runs in the checker's own browser, against a published key — no account, and no need to take the issuer's word for it. On Attesian this happens with no crypto tokens and no blockchain the user has to deal with.
A certificate is not an appraisal
A certificate of authenticity speaks to what a work is and who made it — not what it is worth. Attesian documents provenance and authenticity and deliberately sets no values; any price guidance elsewhere is an honest range, never a formal appraisal for insurance or tax.
How an artist gets one
On a registry like Attesian, the artist registers the work, adds an image, and a signed certificate is issued with its own QR code. The record belongs to the artist and travels with the work; the artist is never charged to own the record of their own work. When a gallery has started a provisional record, claiming it merges any duplicates without breaking certificates that were already printed — old QR codes keep verifying.