The effect of an artefact’s provenance on its saleability

Brodie, N. (2006), ‘The effect of an artefact’s provenance on its saleability’, Culture Without Context (19), 4-7.

It is a welcome development that in recent ‘ Antiquities’ sales the major auction houses have started to offer more information about provenance than was previously the case. Sometimes this provenance comp rises a named previous owner, sometimes a publication, sometimes simply a previous auction sale. These provenance data can contribute towards a fuller understanding of the market and aid the investigation of individual market histories. In this short paper they are used to examine the effect of provenance on saleability.