How the Provenance Index is built.
A transparent rating system for art-world intermediaries. Six data sources. Five weighted subscores. Quarterly refresh. Institutions cannot pay to improve their grade — methodology and source data are published in full.
Guiding Principles.
The Provenance Index exists to answer a single question for serious collectors: which art-world intermediaries actually preserve collector and artist value — and which extract from it?
- Public records + auction data. Every input sourced from publicly available auction records, court filings, ArtTactic data, Arts Economics reports, and Protagonist Art's collector-cohort framework.
- Institutions cannot pay. No rated institution has paid, can pay, or has been offered the opportunity to pay for inclusion, exclusion, or modification of their grade.
- Quarterly refresh. Grades update every 90 days; material events trigger interim updates.
- Subscore transparency. Every grade decomposes into five public subscores.
- Right of correction. Institutions may submit documented corrections via published Appeals process.
The Six Data Sources.
Auction Records
Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, Heritage public auction records. Cross-referenced for accuracy and resale-history tracking.
ArtTactic Market Analytics
Industry-leading art market data provider. Sale-rate, sell-through, average-price analytics by category.
Arts Economics Annual Reports
Clare McAndrew + Art Basel + UBS annual market reports. Industry-standard market sizing and trend analysis.
ArtTrack Provenance Research
Provenance research and authentication track records. Critical for due-diligence subscore.
Critic Reviews (Aggregated)
Aggregated critic reviews from Artforum, Frieze, ArtNews, The Art Newspaper, ARTnews. Industry-perspective benchmarking.
Protagonist Collector-Cohort Framework
Protagonist Art's published collector-cohort framework. Anonymized opt-in collector feedback on intermediary experience.
The Five Subscores.
Authenticity / Due Diligence
Provenance research rigor, fraud prevention, authentication processes, condition reporting accuracy. The foundational requirement for any art-world intermediary.
Pricing Transparency
Listed-price vs. negotiated-price disclosure. Buyer's premium clarity. Reserve-price practices. Resale-right administration. Distinguishes transparent intermediaries from opaque ones.
Artist Treatment
How artists are paid, supported, represented. Primary-market revenue share. Resale-royalty administration (where applicable). Artist-foundation work. Artist non-payment / lawsuit history.
Collector Service
Buyer-side experience, condition reports, framing + transit, insurance, post-sale support, repeat-collector advisory. The relationship-quality dimension.
Liquidity / Resale Posture
Secondary-market posture and market-making behavior. Resale-pricing transparency. Auction-house consignment access. The exit-strategy dimension for any collector position.
Weighting & Scoring.
Why these weights? Authenticity / Due Diligence is heaviest because forgery and provenance fraud are catastrophic for any institutional collector position. Liquidity / Resale Posture is second because the long-term value of any acquisition depends on its eventual sellability. Pricing Transparency, Artist Treatment, and Collector Service complete the composite.