Disclaimer. Collectalia is not a legal, tax or insurance advice site. The information on this page is general and based on French legislation in force as of 09/11/2026: it may change, does not necessarily apply outside France and does not take your situation into account. Always have it checked by a notary, a lawyer, an accountant or your insurer before acting on it.
The essentials
- Keeping your studio inventory up to date as you go avoids years of reconstruction later.
- Editions and prints (EA, HC), exhibitions, sales and the location of sold works: everything is attached to the work.
- This inventory is the basis of a future catalogue raisonné.
An artist produces work over decades. Works go to galleries, exhibitions, collectors, and the memory of who owns what fades. The artist’s studio inventory answers very concrete questions: which works are available, where the others are, to whom to issue a certificate, what to pass on one day to one’s successors. This page is addressed to artists, their assistants and their families.
Archiving your works: what is lost without an inventory
In the early years, you remember everything. Then come the series, the editions, the deposits in several galleries, the exhibitions abroad. A spreadsheet takes over, the photos are somewhere else, the sales invoices in a third place. The day a collector asks for a certificate, an exhibition curator looks for an early work, or an expert prepares a catalogue, everything has to be reconstructed.
To manage your works with peace of mind, the essentials come down to very little: a unique number per work, a good photo, the basic information, and the history of what happens to it.
Editions and prints: EA, HC and numbering
Engravings, photographs, bronze sculptures: every copy counts. The numbered edition (12/50), artist’s proofs (EA) and hors commerce copies (HC) must be tracked one by one, with, for a sculpture, the signature and the foundry mark. Our guide artist’s proof, numbered edition, HC explains these designations.
What Collectalia brings
- One entry per work: title, date, medium, dimensions, signature and inscriptions, numbered edition EA or HC, foundry mark; custom fields for your series.
- High-resolution photos, taken if needed from your phone by scanning a QR code, and documents: certificates issued, invoices, articles.
- Exhibitions, loans, movements and condition reports.
- Sales recorded on the entry, and the location of sold works: the buyer or the gallery is a contact linked to the work.
- Contacts: collectors, galleries, exhibition curators, founders, printers, carriers.
- PDF reports, Excel exports, laid-out PDF catalogue and labels for the studio.
Artist’s certificate of authenticity
The certificate accompanies the work at each sale. Write it from the information on the entry, so that the description is identical, and store its copy in the work’s documents. For the information to include, see our guide to the certificate of authenticity or download the free certificate template directly.
How to work with your partners
You keep the inventory; your partners access it according to their role. An assistant can enter entries as an editor. Your gallery, a relative or a future successor can be given free read-only access, with or without the values. To show a series to a collector or a curator, create a private showroom, password-protected and with an expiry date. Your galleries can also use Collectalia on their side (see the galleries page).
Towards the catalogue raisonné
An inventory kept throughout a career is the raw material of a catalogue raisonné. Collectalia provides the tools for this stage: numbered entries, examination status, unlocated works, exhibitions, bibliography, concordances and public sales. See the catalogue raisonné page.
Confidentiality and security
Collectors’ contact details and sale prices are confidential. Data is hosted in France and backed up daily; two-factor authentication is available; values can be hidden from readers, and the log of changes and access keeps a record of every change.
With Collectalia
The inventory of your work, from the studio to the collections: every work and every copy documented, sold or not, located and linked to their collectors, all the way to the catalogue raisonné. The trial is free.
Disclaimer. Collectalia is not a legal, tax or insurance advice site. The information on this page is general and based on French legislation in force as of 09/11/2026: it may change, does not necessarily apply outside France and does not take your situation into account. Always have it checked by a notary, a lawyer, an accountant or your insurer before acting on it.