
This second part of how to collect like a pro looks at the collections management side of building and caring for your collection. Heads up: don’t leave acting on these points until after you’ve bought the work, otherwise it might be too late!
Check the provenance & condition report
Provenance is where even seasoned collectors and public museums can get caught out. As a general rule of thumb, the more hands a work has passed through, the harder it becomes to determine whether the provenance is authentic. This is where your research on the seller is important: if they are highly regarded, the risk of forged or misleading provenance is reduced significantly. But as the US Knoedler Gallery case highlighted, there are rogue “good” galleries, too. For contemporary and modern work, it’s especially important to check how often it’s been traded. Works that are flipped (resold frequently) tend to lose value because collectors rightly or wrongly believe that the flipped work is inferior to the rest of an artist’s oeuvre.
Always check the condition of the work carefully – even new work! Are there signs of damage, wear, or repairs? If the work has been repaired, who did it and to what standards? Is there any documentation to support that? This has implications on the conservation of the work into the future. What might look like minor issues now could turn into expensive conservation headaches later as the work ages.
Consider present and future conservation needs
All work at some stage will need preservation or conservation. The materials the work is made from and the condition it’s in when you buy it will determine what needs to be done and when. For some works, it will be decades before any major work needs to be undertaken; for others there will be an immediate need. Naturally, there are costs associated with that process, so check before you buy. Also keep in mind that each material has its own environmental vulnerabilities, e.g. paper hates direct or bright light (yellowing and pigment fading), UV (degradation of materials) and high humidity (mould and foxing). Be prepared for non-archival materials to degrade faster than proven archival materials, and certain materials when mixed or brought into contact with one another have adverse reactions that may only show up as the years pass. Time-based and digital media will eventually need to be migrated to new platforms as current technology is superseded; a failure to stay abreast of these IT changes could mean you can no longer display the work.
Transport and storage requirements
If you have run out of space to exhibit the work you’re considering acquiring, ask yourself what are its storage requirements and what costs that will impose on you. Storage should always be dry (check the relative humidity) and away from flood zones, dark and secure. Very sensitive or highly valuable works would benefit from climate controlled storage. Shelving and packing materials should be acid-free and cleaned regularly: check for dust, mould and insects. Transport for fragile works can be very expensive if a work requires specialist crating or handling such as temperature controlled shipping. Do you also have space to store those expensive custom-made travel crates? Public galleries may pay for these costs if they’re loaning your work for an exhibition, but don’t assume they will.
Insurance
Like all precious things in life, your collection should be properly insured. Don’t neglect to notify your insurers each time you add a new piece to your collection, unless it’s covered under your household insurance. If you move your collection around regularly, you might also want to investigate taking out your own transit insurance that covers the work from door to door. Most carriers that offer insurance only cover the work while it is in the vehicle, which puts your work at risk while it’s being loaded and unloaded. In my experience, most damage occurs during manual handling, not during transport (providing it’s been properly packed and loaded). Check that your work is fully covered during exhibitions, loans to museums, or at any other place – including your framer – either under your own policy or the other venue’s. Finally, take high quality photos that can be used to identify your work in case of theft or prove that the work has been damaged.
Documentation
In this information hungry world, it pays to keep good records of your collection. As your collection grows, consider giving each piece a unique acquisitions number so it’s readily identifiable (“untitled” by Sam Citizen, cat. no. 156.2012 can be differentiated from “untitled” by Sam Citizen, cat. no. 138.2010). This is standard museum practice. Keep copies of 300 dpi print quality images, certificates of authenticity, bills of sale, associated paperwork, condition reports, loan agreements, artist CVs, exhibition records and catalogues, articles, etc that relate to each piece. There are some excellent collections management programs around that can help you digitise and manage your database. Having this information at your fingertips means that you can quickly identify where every piece is displayed or stored, what work you have on loan and when it’s due back, when conservation checks are due, insurance reminders, etc. And if you then decide to sell a work, a complete history of the piece may help increase its value.
One final pro tip
Never do anything to a work unless it’s totally, completely reversible – including framing! Anything you add to a work should be able to be removed without leaving a trace (serious conservation work excepted; consult a qualified and experienced conservator). Careless or amateur interventions risk damaging and devaluing the work, and if the artist is particularly sensitive, having the work disowned by them (this has been known to happen).
Collecting art has immeasurable personal and cultural rewards when done with equal doses of consideration and passion. A passion for art defies logic and that is precisely what makes it exhilarating; it’s impossible to put a dollar value on that. But beware of rushing in where angels fear to tread. Good luck!