History & CultureMental model
An object with no history is an object with no value.
Provenance is the unbroken chain of ownership and location of an object. It decides authenticity, market value and restitution claims, for instance with Nazi-looted art. But it can itself be faked: John Drewe planted invented letters and catalogue entries in archives, lending credibility to forgeries any lab test would have exposed.
Useful: Check not only the object but the paperwork – and who put it into the archive.
Source: en.wikipedia.org