What Is Provenance and Why it's Important for the Value of your Purchases
When it comes to acquiring luxury items, there is the matter of provenance. Typically associated with the art world, as a means to verify authenticity and legitimacy of an item and tracks its path of ownership, Provenance can also greatly increase the value of an item. Today more than ever, proper provenance is important as it pertains to the value of your luxury purchases. Whether from an auction house, private collection or luxury store, there is great value in being able to track and trace and prove the validity of the item you've purchased.
There is an especially heightened issue in the world of art and antiques, because even documentation can be faked, it is important to verify with an expert the validity of your desired purchase.
Once you have the provenance of the item you've carefully selected and added to your collection, whether it be a passion or investment purchase, it is very important to properly store these documents because of they were to become lost, it is nearly impossible to re-establish the provenance, so keeping them in a safety deposit box or safe is recommended.
In the modern age, there are even more concerns about provenance with luxury goods. In the areas of art, fine wines, jewellery, antiques and luxury fashion each of these areas are targets of forgery. There is now opportunities for brands to share the inside stories of product lifecycles which gives even more control over brand positioning. For this, there is a technological solution, which we will discover at the end of this article.
Origins of the Word Provenance
The origins of the word province or French from the word 'provenir' meaning 'to come from', to have been originated in". Providence is the chronology or location of historical object. The word was originally used mostly in relation to works of art now however it is used in a similar sense in a wide range of fields including archives, manuscripts, printed books, science and computing and now into the world of luxury items, wine, antiques, etc.
The primary purpose is to provide contextual and current circumstantial evidence for its original production or discovery by establishing as far as possible it’s a ladder history especially the sequence of its formal ownership custody and places of storage.
This has value in authenticating objects. Provenance is essentially a matter of documentation. The term dates to the 1780s in English providence conceptually is comparable in legal terms to “chain of custody“ especially for museums and the art trade providence is increasingly important in helping establish the moral and legal validating or validity of a chain of custody. The initial major concern highlighting the importance of provenance came regarding it works that changed hands in Nazi controlled areas of Europe before and after World War II.
Proving a Verbal History
Some items have a verbal history but there must be physical documentation to back up the stores whether it include old photographs of the item, bills of sale, and other documentation that prove the validity of the stories because memories including family lore, are not typically accurate and can inflate over the passage of time.
Types of Provenance Documentation
In your collections, you most likely have some of these types of provenance for the items that you own:
Receipt, Invoice, or Bill of Sale
These basic but important documents that serve to:
1) confirm the date of ownership and when the item previously changed owners,
2) identifies the other parties involved, whether it was a private owner, a gallery, or an auction house.
3) This is also proof of ownership when it comes to selling indicating clear title for the object for legal purposes when passing it form one owner to the other.
Previous appraisal
An object may have been appraised, whether it be for insurance purposes or as part of an estate. Values fluctuate over time, so a previous appraisal serves to document the age and ownership of an object, though are not indicative of the current value.
Inclusion in an auction/ illustration in an auction catalog
Sometimes an item was previously included in an auction, making the sale result available to the public. If the auction house published catalogs, the item may be illustrated in a catalog for the sale.
Illustration in an exhibition catalog from a museum or gallery:
If the item was included in a museum or gallery exhibition, there will have been mention and illustration of the item in a catalog published to promote the exhibition.
Inventory number from a museum or corporate collection:
If the item was held in a museum or a corporate collection, they are given inventory numbers. These numbers accompany the work as it leaves the collection. Their purpose is to verify that the work or object in question was part of a collection during a specific time period.
Luxury Item Provenance: Other Items Worth Keeping
When purchasing luxury items, it is worth keeping the Packaging and Tags that accompanied the piece along with the other pieces of documentation. There is value in retaining the packaging. Packaging changes over the years at luxury maisons and this is also indicative of the time frame of purchase. Plus it makes the item complete, is better for storage. Plus the packaging itself has value commanding a price in the resell market.
Technological Solutions for Provenance of Luxury Goods
While the luxury industry was slow adopters of digital since the pandemic, they made up for lost time with quickly adopting technology into their business models and using it to bridge the gap when shops were closed to reach their customer. But they are also finding new and creative ways for a more omnichannel experience, personalisation and customer service. Further more technology is instrumental in curbing the counterfeit market. With companies like Everledger able to help.
They are a digital transparency company based in London that provides technology solutions to increase transparency in global supply chains; a blockchain platform for trust and authenticity. Post pandemic, there is expected to be a massive surge in demand for luxury goods. It is more important than ever for luxury brands to have a grasp on their supply chain and provenance. With smartphone interaction with the blockchain validating force, Everledger enables consumer engagement and the highest brand protection. This facilitates the retention of the customer's value for life and makes it harder than ever to sell fakes. When intelligent garments and luxury goods are traded peer to peer, you gain better access to a growing secondary market by honoring warranties, creating "collectors," and soliciting loyalty.