Authentication & Provenance
Authentication & Provenance
The Official Certificate of Authenticity
Every artwork by Dr Esther Mahlangu should be able to prove what it is. The official Certificate of Authenticity — personally endorsed by Dr Mahlangu — is the document that does this, and it is the single most important thing a collector can hold alongside the work itself.
Why it matters
A rigorous, consistent system
As Dr Esther Mahlangu's international standing has grown, so has the responsibility to protect both her legacy and the people who collect her work. Her Ndebele geometry is distinctive and widely admired, which makes a rigorous, consistent authentication system essential rather than optional.
Authenticity and provenance are easiest to establish at the moment of purchase, and hardest to reconstruct years later. A work that arrives properly certified today is a work that can be insured, valued, lent, resold and scholarly recorded without difficulty tomorrow.
How the certificate works
A numbered hologram
Each certificate carries a tamper-evident hologram bearing a unique serial number. A second, matching hologram is applied to the reverse of the artwork — permanently binding certificate and painting by a number that exists nowhere else.
Registered in the digital archive
The work is photographed and uploaded to Dr Mahlangu's digital archive, indexed against its hologram number. The certificate points to the archive; the archive points back to the work. Each verifies the other.
A future Catalogue Raisonné
The archive is being built as the foundation of a future Catalogue Raisonné — the definitive scholarly record of Dr Mahlangu's complete body of work. Works registered today carry their reference number forward.
The archive is a controlled record, deliberately not open to public search — a publicly searchable list of valid numbers would be of more use to a forger than to a collector. Verification is handled directly by The Melrose Gallery.
For Collectors
What we recommend
- 01
Request the official certificate before you commit — it should be part of the purchase, not an afterthought.
- 02
Check that the numbers match — compare the hologram on the certificate against the hologram on the reverse of the work.
- 03
Keep the certificate with the work and pass it on at resale — a work and its certificate should never be separated.
- 04
Treat an uncertified work with caution — the absence of a certificate is not proof of a forgery, but it leaves you without a straightforward way to demonstrate authenticity.
Every work by Dr Esther Mahlangu released through The Melrose Gallery is supplied with the official, numbered Certificate of Authenticity and registered in her digital archive as a matter of course. If a work is offered to you without one, ask why.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is the official Dr Esther Mahlangu Certificate of Authenticity?
It is the certificate officially endorsed by Dr Mahlangu to confirm that a work is by her hand. It carries a uniquely numbered hologram, is matched to a second hologram on the reverse of the artwork, and is registered against that number in her digital archive.
How do I check that an Esther Mahlangu artwork is authentic?
Ask for the official certificate and compare its hologram number against the hologram on the back of the work. The two numbers must match. The work should also be registered in Dr Mahlangu's digital archive under that same number.
What happens if a work has no certificate?
It cannot easily be verified. The absence of a certificate does not by itself prove a work is not authentic, but it makes proving authenticity — for insurance, resale, auction or scholarly inclusion — considerably more difficult.
What is a Catalogue Raisonné, and why does it matter here?
A Catalogue Raisonné is the definitive scholarly catalogue of an artist's complete works. Dr Mahlangu's digital archive is being built to inform hers. Works registered now are positioned to be included; unregistered works may not be.
Can I look up a hologram number myself?
No. The archive is a controlled record and is not publicly searchable — an open list of valid numbers would mainly assist forgers. Verification is handled directly by The Melrose Gallery. Send us the hologram number and photographs of the work and certificate, and we will confirm the record.
What about works sold outside The Melrose Gallery?
The Melrose Gallery is Dr Mahlangu's global representative and works with her directly on certification and archiving, but her works do reach the market through other channels. A work appearing elsewhere is not necessarily inauthentic — it simply has not been certified or archived, and proving its authenticity later will be significantly harder.
Can a certificate be transferred when the work is sold?
Yes — and it should be. The certificate belongs with the artwork and should pass to each new owner as part of the sale.
Official Global Representative
The Seal of Authenticity
Every authenticated work carries the assurance of The Melrose Gallery's representation — a guarantee of provenance for collectors and institutions worldwide.
Contact the Gallery