Verify a document

The art trade is exposed to falsified documents: fake certificates, invented provenances, altered licences. A check takes a few seconds and avoids relying on a paper whose origin nothing guarantees.

Verification is useful to the buyer before a payment, to the insurer before cover, to the customs officer faced with an export licence and to the curator before an acquisition.

The service confirms the existence of the document in the Desk's registries, its nature, its date of issue, its validity status and the work concerned through a brief description. It indicates whether the document has been revoked or replaced.

It does not disclose the owner's identity or the value of the property. This information remains confidential and is accessible only to the account holder.

The result does not replace examination of the work itself. It attests to a document, not to the condition of the property at the time of sale. A valid certificate does not rule out damage occurring since its issue.

Nor does it replace consulting the BIOP, which shows whether a property is reported stolen or lost.

Four results are possible: valid, revoked, expired or unknown. A valid document displays its type and date. A revoked document has been cancelled, often because new information changed the conclusion of the appraisal.

An "unknown" result means that no document bears this number. It may be a typing error, but also a fake: recheck the number before concluding.

Verification relies on the same registries as the Desk. Documents issued since 2021 also carry a digital signature, which guarantees that they have not been altered after being issued.

National authorities may request technical access to check documents in large numbers, through their focal point.