Our promises. The ones we won't bend.
A record is only worth something if people believe it. These are the promises that keep Attesian honest — with artists, with galleries, and with itself. One day someone will ask us to bend one of them to grow faster. This page is why the answer is already no.
- 01
We don't profit when prices rise
We take no cut of any sale and don't set values. When numbers go up, we don't benefit — so we've no reason to talk them up.
- 02
Estimates, never official valuations
Any price guidance is an honest range, clearly labelled — never a formal appraisal for tax or insurance, and never presented as one.
- 03
Nothing fudged by hand
Reputation and price estimates are worked out by the system, the same way every time. No one — including us — can quietly type in a better number.
- 04
History is only added to
We never edit the past. If something needs correcting, we add a visible correction on top. A correction out in the open is a good thing, not an embarrassment.
- 05
Credit, not control
Galleries and venues get lasting credit for everything they add — and that credit is theirs to keep. But the record itself always stays with the artist.
- 06
Private things stay private
Individual sale prices are never shown. If you ask us to remove your personal details, we can — without breaking the trust in the record.
- 07
Sensitive details, only with permission
Anything sensitive, like heritage, is shown only with your clear, specific permission — everywhere it appears, including on certificates.
We show what builds trust — and keep the rest private.
A work's full ownership chain is kept private. In public, we show only what matters for trust — for example, “owned by three people over time; first owner: the artist” — and names appear only when someone has chosen to be named.
Sale prices are kept private and are only ever seen by the people involved in that sale. Publicly, prices only ever appear as broad ranges, and never in a way that could reveal what a single work sold for.
If you ask us to remove your personal details, we can — without breaking the trust in the record, because the history is built around private codes rather than names. And any sensitive information, like heritage, is only ever shown with your clear, specific permission — including on certificates.
We're the trusted record underneath — we don't compete with the people who sell art.
Attesian keeps the record. It isn't a marketplace, a gallery, or a valuer, and it doesn't take sides on what art is worth. We keep it that way on purpose — so nothing we do is ever in tension with an honest history.
Built to be believed.
Every honest correction and every visible gap is a small deposit into the one thing that matters most for a record like this: being trusted.
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