COURTESY TEFAF
Artory, a blockchain-based registry system that tracks the provenances of artworks and collectibles, has acquired the database Auction Club, which hosts fine-art auction records. Over the next few months, Artory plans to make sales records from 4,000 auction houses, as well as those of 250 art-related businesses in 40 different countries, free to the public online.
In a phone conversation, Nanne Dekking, the founder and CEO of Artory and the former vice chairman of Sotheby’s New York, told ARTnews that the acquisition offers a new way to aggregate art-related data. “For instance, Christie’s posts their information on our registry, and we create blockchain security on top of that information,” he said. “All of the data will be publicly accessible through Artory without a subscription, providing an open and transparent resource for collectors, dealers, and researchers interested in tracking digital provenance, searching sales history, and conducting due diligence.”
Dekking told ARTnews that more than 22 million individual records have been acquired through Auction Club, and that they date as far back as 1985. In making these records available to the public without any fees, he hopes to facilitate further dealings in the art market. “We are about connecting buyers and market players,” he said. “While other platforms serve as a marketplace for selling art through fractional ownership or direct sales, we are partnering with the institutions to provide a service.”