Creating Robust Provenance

The value of a work in the secondary market is often reliant on its provenance - the story behind the work and its owner(s). However, provenance records are vulnerable to falsification - bad actors can forge documentation, alter public records, and create false provenance trails. Tagsmart has multiple defences against these attacks. These include:

Verifiable, secure transferable Certificates

Physical Certificates often endure after digital identities have been mislaid, lost or compromised. Provenance records on our platform cannot be updated by anyone not in possession of a valid Tagsmart physical Certificate of Authenticity. Each Certificate carries individual security measures and can be remotely invalidated ('revoked') in case of loss or theft. Any attempt to register a provenance update is manually checked by our Registrar. You can find out more about our Certificates here.

Tagsmart Verified programme

Ultimately, the artist themselves should be the initiator of the provenance record. Some provenance systems rely on identity verification: Tagsmart was the original creator of the 'authority' system for provenance records, which involves contextual verification of the artists and galleries using our platform. This goes beyond identity, can involve personal visits as well as desk research, and aims to ensure that every Tagsmart Certificate of Authenticity is cleared with the artist concerned prior to issue.

Signed Digital Certificates

If you're 'Tagsmart Verified', then you can issue a standard Certificate of Authenticity. You can also request an electronically signed Tagsmart Digital Certificate, which cannot be edited and which contains an encrypted code that uniquely represents the provenance record information as it stands when the work is Certified. Digital Certificates are also filed on the Polygon blockchain to create immutable, auditable public records. Tagsmart Digital Certificates are signed by the Tagsmart Registrar of the moment and each Registrar is individually notarised by a UK Public Notary.

Third Party Registers & Blockchain

Any register, including Tagsmart, may cease trading or be compromised in some way. This can make verification of the original provenance data very difficult or impossible. Our Digital Certificates are encrypted by a third party, using the globally recognised ESIGN standard and are filed on public blockchains. You can also export data to third party registers using the Connect service: for example, we are one of the very few third parties to be endorsed by Artory for signing records on their system.

We are the founders of and main investors in the National Art Archive project (’NAA’ - see www.nationalartarchive.org) to ensure that information remains verifiable for centuries, even if digital technologies decay or even collapse.

DNA Tagging

All digital solutions, including blockchain and NFTs, fall short when it comes to associating digital records with actual physical objects. Tagsmart remains the world leader in the development of tagging systems for artworks. One of the key requirements for successful use of blockchain is a method of verifying physical works to complement the verifiable digital record. As well as offering our existing DNA and other security tags to meet this requirement, we continue to develop new solutions for the future.

Creating Robust Provenance