What a Good Acquisition Report Should Contain

The report should begin by identifying the work beyond doubt: artist, title, date, medium, dimensions, signature and inscriptions, edition number where relevant, and any labels, stamps or marks on the reverse. Photographs should show the front, the reverse and any details the text refers to.

It should say whether a catalogue raisonné exists for the artist and whether the work is included. Where one is in preparation, or an artist's foundation or committee reviews works, the report should record the work's status. The Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association is a useful starting point for finding out which catalogues exist.

Exhibition history and published references belong here too, with copies of the relevant pages where available. A work that has been exhibited and published has a documented public history that supports both its identity and its value.

This is the section most likely to be thin, and the one that matters most if anything goes wrong. Provenance research can be laborious, and resources such as the Getty Provenance Index show how much work can sit behind a single ownership history. The report does not need to be exhaustive, but it must be honest about what has and has not been established.

Gaps should be stated plainly, particularly for works that changed hands in Europe during the Nazi era, for antiquities, and for cultural objects with an unclear export history. A search of a stolen-art database such as the Art Loss Register is a common step, and the report should record which searches were run and when.

Where authenticity is in any doubt, the report should identify which scholar, foundation or committee is generally recognised for the artist, whether the work has been examined by them, and with what result. An opinion from someone without that standing should be described as exactly what it is.

The due diligence section should cover:

• Ownership history, with the documents that support each step
• Gaps in the record, stated plainly
• Stolen-art database searches, with dates
• Export and import status where relevant
• Confirmation of the seller's right to sell, and any known liens or claims
• Any authentication opinions, and who gave them

The report should include a condition report and say who wrote it. A report from the seller or auction house is a starting point; for significant works an independent conservator's examination may be warranted, particularly where restoration is suspected or the work is fragile.

It should then set out the full cost of acquisition, not just the price. At auction that includes the buyer's premium; in any purchase it may include taxes, shipping, crating, transit insurance, framing, conservation and installation. Clients who see only the headline figure are often surprised by the total, and the report is the place to prevent that.

Any terms that follow the work should be flagged too. Some primary-market sales come with conditions, such as a right of first refusal for the gallery if the buyer later sells. Some jurisdictions have an artist's resale right that can apply to later sales. And ownership of a work does not normally include its copyright, which affects how images of it can be used. None of these need deter a purchase, but the client should know about them beforehand.

Price evidence should come before opinion. The report should show comparable sales, noting which are public auction results and which are private sales known to the advisor, and explain how this work compares in size, period, quality and condition. Auction results are public but incomplete; private sales are relevant but harder to verify, and the report should say so.

Only then should the advisor give a view: whether the work fits the collection strategy, whether the price is reasonable, what the advisor recommends offering, and the price at which the client should walk away. The risks should sit alongside the reasons to buy, not in a footnote.

Finally, the report should state how the advisor is paid on this transaction, including any compensation from the seller or any other party, and what remains unknown. A report with no uncertainties and no disclosure is not a sign of a clean deal. It is a sign of an incomplete report.

Some reports look thorough without being so. Warning signs include provenance and condition information taken entirely from the seller without comment, comparables that are all higher-priced or all flattering, no named sources for any opinion, and no mention of the advisor's compensation. A collector who sees these should ask for them to be addressed before deciding.

Once the decision is made, the report should not be filed and forgotten. It should be updated with the final price, the invoice, shipping and installation details, and any new information that emerged during the purchase, then kept with the work's permanent record. That completed file is what an insurer, an appraiser, an heir or a future buyer will want to see.