Certificate of authenticity

COAs have been a target of much controversy due to online auction sites where sellers are providing fake Certificates of Authenticity to market or sell their art works.

However, it is widely acknowledged that most of these COA's have simply been produced by fraudulent sellers in order to encourage the buyer to buy fake items.

It has been shown that around 90% of the COA's issued by these sellers do not even have the contact details of the person selling the item, or if they do they are often incorrect or have an address of a company that has long since disappeared.

Items such as artwork, rare coins, collectibles and luxury goods can fetch much higher prices when accompanied by an official certificate of authentication.

Issues such as copyright ownership, transfer of rights, and the legal status of NFTs in various jurisdictions are areas of ongoing debate and development.