Certificate Of Authenticity / Signed Prints

It cannot be done unless you order it and sign it
Not a good idea

If you buy from my store, contact me and I will provide you immediately Certificate of Authenticity.

No we do not have those facilities. I am sorry. However, as Tibor says, contacting the artist BEFORE purchase can sometimes get one.

Abbie
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Manager
Fine Art America | Pixels
Manchester, UK | Santa Monica, CA

Tibor / Abbie

Do you mention in artwork description to prompt customer to contact you for COA?

I think it is worth mentioning. Either in description either in About section. However, excepting some famous contemporary artists, buyers would be not interested, because a physical signature or document requires extra costs. But again it depends on the buyer...
Signature is one thing.
COA is a different thing, and sometimes to be accepted unconditionally it might require to be notarized by a notary public. Which again comes at a cost.

I do not offer them on prints. I did on originals only which we do not sell through here

To sign prints you will need to purchase the prints yourself and ship them to you, then to the customer. So you would have a long shipment time and more expense. It is not worth it

Hi Abbie and everyone, could an other idea be the following? Someone buys your print, sends you their address because they truly wish to have this certificate, the Print arrives to the person as per standard procedure and you separately send the certificate in an envelope. They don't really require to be send together, am I correct?

They still have to contact you. Which is what we said before

.pdf by e-mail is a good way to send a COA. Mention in the image description if available and advise customer to use the contact icon on your images/collections/shop page where they can contact you with their e-mail address.

I used pages on my apple device to create a COA, i can send that if requested, but i don’t openly offer them.

Ok thanks a lot Abbie and sorry for my late reply!

I always thought COAs were for original art, not reproductions (prints).

Of course I could be wrong. I was wrong once. 😎

In case of photographs and digital art the print is 'original'.

".pdf by e-mail is a good way to send a COA. "

I'm intrigued as to how a PDF can be used as a COA for a physical product that you haven't personally seen.

(As an aside, unless you digitally also sign it and lock it the PDF is also easily edited in AdobePro)

The idea that a COA or signing an open edition print adds much or any value is a misconception, IMHO. You may get away with adding a few bucks to cover the cost of the cert and producing it, but it adds little or nothing to the value of the print. We are selling decorator art, and to imply there is some collector value by signing it or supplying a COA is, IMHO, disingenuous. It is a nice-to-have kind of thing, but it adds no real value.

Serious collectors do not put much, if any, value on open edition prints simply because they are mass-produced with an unlimited supply, and the signature will mean little or nothing. On rare occasions, they may add value after the artist dies because they can no longer pump out more copies. But that artist will have to have reached some level of fame.

I am a dealer for most publishing houses representing the best artists working in the Signed and Numbered Limited Edition business. I have been doing this as an artist, publisher, wholesale distributor, and retail for over 50 years.

Some if not most of the top, the most popular artists as only do smaller sizes of and for the open edition prints they are only getting $5-$15 more if it is signed.

After I bought this print, via FAA, I contacted the artist, Ania M Milo.

We met and she happily signed, thus authenticating, her captivating "Blue Dog"

I don't often agree with Floyd 😀 but he's 100% correct regarding COA's and signatures for true art collectors.


That being said, there are a lot of rubes out there, people who buy commemorative plates, etc, for whom it might mean something.

Richard i use iOS, so i create the COA .pdf using pages, i save the image to my camera roll, i can then edit in my signature with an apple pen, i can then either send the COA to my iOS files or send it back to pages to then send as a .pdf

Again i don’t offer one, but i do have one created.

Floyd i see a digitally created COA as an opportunity to offer a more legitimate kind of detailed receipt of purchase.

A receipt with a number can be a kind of proof of purchase, as in price, print size, paper used, shape etc etc.

FAA doesn’t (i stand corrected) offer a fully detailed proof of purchase receipt.

That being said i agree there isn’t much monetary value to be gained, but it does offer a buyer if they wish to resell proof of purchase etc etc.