Method
Three checks before the money moves
Trouble in an art purchase comes from three places: the work itself, the person selling it and the way the deal is built. Treating them separately is the method the art market's own guidance recommends, and it is how I run a pre-purchase review. The checklist is below, in full, so you can run it yourself on a small purchase and know what to ask for on a large one.
The work
What is it, what has happened to it, and who has owned it.
- aAttribution. Who says it is by this artist, on what evidence, and when. A dealer's confidence is not evidence. A signature is the weakest evidence there is.
- bThe back. Labels, stamps, inscriptions, stretcher and frame marks, old exhibition numbers. More of a work's history is written here than on the front.
- cCondition. Restoration, relining, overpaint, tears and losses. Ask for a condition report and for images in raking light and under UV, not only a catalogue photograph.
- dLiterature. Is it in the catalogue raisonné, an artist's foundation archive or an exhibition catalogue — and is the entry for this work, or for one like it?
- eOwnership history. A chain of names and dates, not the phrase "private collection". Note every gap and ask what fills it.
- fRegisters. Check the work against stolen and lost-art registers before, not after, you pay.
The counterparty
Who you are actually dealing with, and whether they can sell you what they are offering.
- aIdentity. The legal name of the seller, not only the gallery's trading name. Who signs the invoice.
- bTitle. Do they own the work, or act for someone who does? If an agent, is there written authority to sell?
- cChain. How many intermediaries stand between you and the owner, and what each is paid.
- dStanding. How long they have traded, in what, and who else has dealt with them.
- eCompliance. For larger sums, the checks a bank would expect: sanctions exposure, the source of the work, the destination of the funds.
The transaction
Price, paper and the route the object and the money take.
- aPrice. Tested against sales that actually closed, not against asking prices or a previous estimate.
- bThe invoice. Artist, title, year, medium, dimensions, inscriptions and the provenance as the seller states it. The provenance belongs on the invoice, so the statement is part of the contract.
- cTerms. What happens if the attribution fails later. Agree the return right in writing before payment, not after a doubt appears.
- dPayment. To the seller named on the invoice, in their own jurisdiction. Never to a third party on request.
- eMovement. Export licence where one is needed, import duty, insurance in transit, and who carries the risk at each stage.
Red flags
None of these proves anything on its own. Two together are a reason to slow down; three are a reason to walk.
- Provenance that begins with "private collection, Europe"
- A seller in a hurry, with a deadline you did not set
- Payment asked for to a third party or a third country
- Documents shown only as photographs, never originals
- A price well below the market for a right work
- No condition report, and no access to the back
- An expert opinion from someone the seller chose and paid
- A gap in ownership between 1933 and 1945
- A catalogue raisonné entry that does not quite match the object
- Reluctance to put the provenance on the invoice
1933–1945, and why it decides resale
For any European work that existed before 1945, the years 1933 to 1945 are the part of the ownership history that auction houses, insurers and museums look at first. A gap there is not an academic problem. It is the reason a work is declined for sale, excluded from a loan, or claimed years after you bought it.
This is researchable. Auction records, dealer stock books, exhibition catalogues, shipping and customs papers and the public restitution databases usually produce either a chain or a clear statement of what is missing. Either outcome is worth having in writing before a purchase — and worth establishing for a work you already own, while the people who remember it are still alive.
Ask the seller for these
- A written provenance: names and dates, with the gaps marked as gaps
- A condition report, with images in raking light and under UV
- Photographs of the back, the stretcher, every label and the signature
- The catalogue raisonné reference, or the reason there is none
- Earlier invoices, exhibition labels, correspondence and old photographs
- Any previous expert opinion, with its date and its author
- Confirmation of who holds title and who will be paid
- The return terms if attribution is later disproved
Have me run it
A pre-purchase review applies this checklist in proportion to what is at stake and comes back as a written report: what holds, what is missing, what to ask the seller and whether the price is defensible. Send photographs of the front, the back and the signature for a free first read within 48 hours on weekdays.