If a certificate of authenticity were requied by the buyer, I would suggest they consider the uniqueness of the artist's vision.
Why would one need such a thing unless they were copying someone else's style?
If a certificate of authenticity were requied by the buyer, I would suggest they consider the uniqueness of the artist's vision.
Why would one need such a thing unless they were copying someone else's style?
It is a US thing... these 14 states require a CofA
Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Wisconsin.
In Hawaii, a Certificate of Authenticity is only required if the image is a limited edition set. Open editions don't require one.Originally Posted by julian
Can someone provide more details or references to those state laws ?
They do make sense for buyer protection, since that's the way buyers would be able to challenge the artist if he changes his editions.
The certificate of Lik that I saw included the name of the buyer, name of the print, edition number, print size, total edition. He used to have a store in SF, and sells a lot.
Last edited by QT Luong; 27-Aug-2006 at 11:58.
Well, it does look like there's a law on the books. But it's news to me, and I've sold work in New York, illinois, and California (practically nowhere else, now that i think of it) and have never, ever heard of such a thing. I don't know anyone else in NYC who's doing this, including a couple of people who sell a ton of work. Makes me wonder if it's something dealers deal with. The closest thing to it that I've done is a consignment agreement with a dealer. And that's not for public consumption.
I'd think this would depend on the place of business of the seller, not the buyer, but let see if someone comes up with more details.
It may not matter now, but 20 years from now, If you're dead and your prints have become valuable, it will be very important to establish by the provinance(sp?) that they're not fakes. How many fake "Moonrise"s do you think have been shilled at $50,000 a pop?
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
but how does a certificate prevent this? if you can fake a print of a famous photograph, then you can fake a certificate in five minutes.
it seems to me that the purpose of the certificate is to establish a more legally binding contract regarding the size of the edition. if anyone understands it better than this, please chime in.
I believe that is the purpose of the Hawaii law.
I remember Harald Johnson referencing a booklet that had details of all the State laws on this. Maybe from someone like the association of lawyers for the arts or something (very vague...). You could try hunting around his DP&I site, or email him?
As I remember, the laws cover the sale of art in different forms and vary from states which have none, to extremely specific (and at times restrictive). Some apply just to dealers, some to any artists selling work. Some define different types of work - eg "original" works, copies, editions and so on
All generally fairly convoluted....
You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn
www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog
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