OPINIONS- Ask the authenticators

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Posted By: hankron

It is significant to note that there are collectors who have raised the value of their works of art or memorabilia by doing futher research on the item. Often times they find more about the item, or can provide more details about the history and authenticity (such as a photo from Corbis). I once had an acting award that belonged to a deceased actor and when I got it I noticed on the back was a big sticker with a cataloging number. With research, the sticker showed that the item was once owned by a famous Hollywood museum and further research showed that all the museum's material was donated by the actors or directors themselves, their families or by the top movie and television studios. That's known as desirable provenance!

The other story is I once sold an award given to Jackie Robinson from some rather obscure medical society in Platteville Wisconsin. About six months later the winner contacted me so he talk about the award. 'Uh oh,' I thought, 'I'm in big trouble.' Turns out the buyer was so intrigued by the award, never having an item like it before, that he contacted the medical society to see what he could find out. To make the story short, the society found and sent him a photograph of Jackie Robinson in Wisconsin being given the very award. The buyer wanted to tell me that, with the photo, it was his favorite piece of memorabilia. He was also surprised to find out that the presence of the photo likely about doubled it's financial value

So, a collector doing his or her research before, during and after auction can have a variety of financial and non-financial rewards.