Full report

Chapter 2 devotes twenty pages to price formation. It shows that the presence of an OIMAP certificate before the sale is associated with a hammer price 7% higher on average, at comparable quality, and an unsold rate 9 points lower.

This certification premium is stronger for tribal art and works of complex provenance, where the buyer's confidence is a decisive element of the price.

The 2024 edition introduces three novelties. First, an entire chapter devoted to traceability, which measures for the first time the effect of an OIMAP certificate on prices, on selling times and on the unsold rate. Second, an analysis of the digital market, which now distinguishes original digital works from tokens backed by a physical work. Finally, an insight into restitutions: 847 works have been returned since 2012, and their effect on the markets concerned is studied case by case.

Each chapter ends with a page of open questions, which identifies missing data and work to be done. The Observatory invites researchers to take up these questions and to propose collaborations.