Advising in the Art Market: A Practitioner's Guide to Consignment, Title, Authentication Risk, and Reproduction Rights
By Casey Scott McKay ·
This guide sets out how to advise across the art market's principal relationships — collector, artist, dealer, auction house, and institution — in the order the risks arise. It begins with attribution, because every other question in this market is downstream of it, and works through the catalogue vocabulary that describes without warranting, the warranty structures each channel offers, and the limitation periods that expire before a question is asked. It then covers title and provenance as a legal exercise, the cultural property rules that reach antiquities, and the restitution frameworks that operate on different evidential standards. The middle sections address consignment perfection and dealer insolvency, auction mechanics, and the copyright and reproduction rights that do not travel with the object. The closing sections cover editions, financing, anti-money laundering and sanctions, and disputes.
IP and Technology > Copyright | Guide | Published 5 January 2026 - Updated 9 February 2026 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. This guide sets out how to advise across the art market's principal relationships — collector, artist, dealer, auction house, and institution — in the order the risks arise. It begins with attribution, because every other question in this market is downstream of it, and works through the catalogue vocabulary that describes without warranting, the warranty structures each channel offers, and the limitation periods that expire before a question is asked. It then covers title and provenance as a legal exercise, the cultural property rules that reach antiquities, and the restitution frameworks that operate on different evidential standards. The middle sections address consignment perfection and dealer insolvency, auction mechanics, and the copyright and reproduction rights that do not travel with the object. The closing sections cover editions, financing, anti-money laundering and sanctions, and disputes.
Keywords: art market advice · catalogue terminology · warranty negotiation · limitation periods · provenance research · stolen art registers · demand and refusal · cultural property compliance · consignment perfection · artist dealer statutes · auction conditions · guarantees and irrevocable bids · copyright separate from object · reproduction licensing · transformative use after Warhol · editions and multiples · anti money laundering · sanctions screening · art finance · restitution policy
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