Historical documents are the second most valuable category in collecting, after art. The most famous example is Leonardo da Vinci's Hammer Codex — his handwritten journal of studies and inventions — which sold at Sotheby's in New York for $30 million to Bill Gates, an inventor himself, out of the great collection of Armand Hammer.
Provenance is the prize
With manuscripts and documents, the signature and the paper can be tested — but the ownership history is where value is made or lost, and where forgers do their best work. A clean, documented chain of custody can be worth more than the object itself, which is exactly why a false one is so profitable to manufacture.
With a document, the story is the asset. So the story is what gets forged.
What the chapter covers
- Authentic documents wrapped in a manufactured history
- Forged signatures and added inscriptions
- Provenance that rests on a single, unverifiable source
- Why a documented chain of custody beats a letter of authenticity