Old paintings with labels on the back often feel immediately resolved. Gallery names, inventory numbers, exhibition stickers, and handwritten notes suggest documented history and professional handling, creating confidence that feels justified and reassuring. Online listings, estate descriptions, and resale language frequently reinforce this belief by treating any back label as evidence of provenance without examining what the label actually records. Understanding how labels are properly interpreted matters because confusing institutional appearance with documented history can quietly introduce misrepresentation, pricing risk, and credibility exposure.
DJR Real vs. Fake™ guides are designed to help readers understand what commonly goes wrong before money, reputation, or documentation is committed.
This guide explains how professionals think about old paintings with labels on the back, focusing on:
Where public assumptions about labels as proof break down
Why attribution evidence and handling residue are not the same thing
How framing shops, dealers, and later resale environments generate labels
Where uncertainty enters when institutional aesthetics are treated as documentation
Inside this guide, readers will learn how to:
Distinguish true provenance labels from handling or decorative labels
Recognize why many labels postdate the artwork itself
Understand what a label can and cannot independently establish
Identify when restraint is the correct decision
Avoid advertising paintings as “provenanced” without corroboration
Decide when professional escalation may or may not make sense
This guide does not authenticate items or assign value.
Its purpose is to restore clarity, enforce restraint, and prevent irreversible mistakes at the decision stage.
Digital Download — PDF • 3 Pages • Instant Access
Old paintings with labels on the back often feel immediately resolved. Gallery names, inventory numbers, exhibition stickers, and handwritten notes suggest documented history and professional handling, creating confidence that feels justified and reassuring. Online listings, estate descriptions, and resale language frequently reinforce this belief by treating any back label as evidence of provenance without examining what the label actually records. Understanding how labels are properly interpreted matters because confusing institutional appearance with documented history can quietly introduce misrepresentation, pricing risk, and credibility exposure.
DJR Real vs. Fake™ guides are designed to help readers understand what commonly goes wrong before money, reputation, or documentation is committed.
This guide explains how professionals think about old paintings with labels on the back, focusing on:
Where public assumptions about labels as proof break down
Why attribution evidence and handling residue are not the same thing
How framing shops, dealers, and later resale environments generate labels
Where uncertainty enters when institutional aesthetics are treated as documentation
Inside this guide, readers will learn how to:
Distinguish true provenance labels from handling or decorative labels
Recognize why many labels postdate the artwork itself
Understand what a label can and cannot independently establish
Identify when restraint is the correct decision
Avoid advertising paintings as “provenanced” without corroboration
Decide when professional escalation may or may not make sense
This guide does not authenticate items or assign value.
Its purpose is to restore clarity, enforce restraint, and prevent irreversible mistakes at the decision stage.
Digital Download — PDF • 3 Pages • Instant Access
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