What value do you put on provenance?

[Greg Kubasek]

Just curious what all your thoughts are on provenance. Is there a real premium, or does it depend on whom items are attributed to, or is it all in the eyes of the seller/buyer.

I don't want to go into to many details just yet as to respect the family at least until when/if I have ownership of the items, but I wanted to ask if in the end a group is only worth the sum of the parts or if there is a true value to a hand written note.

[Jean-Loup]

For me, if I am sure about the provenance, then that provenance is more important then the item itself.

JL

[seebee1]

Genuine provenance I believe to be valuable and important, not necessarily concerning intrinsic value, but a guarantee of authenticity and history. Regards, Clive.

[Teamski]

I completely agree! This is all so true when dealing with WWII medals. An unnamed basic group of medals become an absolute treasure if they come with that 1st Airborne Division KIA named transmittal slip!!

-Ski

[yellow]

I couldn't agree more. There is nothing like the full sized illuminated memorial scroll to verify a WW2 British army casualty. The group is incomplete with out it.

[Greg Kubasek]

Gentlemen, thank you for your input. I agree that having the knowledge of the owner of our items is very much a treaure in itself. I have always thought myself that one must still put value in the items themselves and not always the story that comes along with them.

It's one thing to have a tunic or medals that are named/dated to an individual, this to me in tangible proof of ownership, and another to have the knowledge that an item belong to a particual person. Cold hard proof and facts will always trump verbal confirmaion in my eyes however.