Estate Provenance

Estate provenance is ownership-history evidence connecting an artwork to a deceased owner’s estate or collection and its subsequent transfer.

Useful evidence may include estate inventories, prior invoices, collection numbers, labels, correspondence, photographs, appraisals, shipping records, and the later sale or distribution document. The source of each record should remain visible.

Estate provenance does not automatically authenticate the artwork, prove every earlier owner, resolve title, or guarantee value. It is one part of object-specific due diligence.

• Buying Art From an Estate or Single-Owner Collection
• Provenance