Manuscripts Expertise
Authentication, origin & provenance, estimation… I can advise you on the identification and current value of your Qur’anic manuscripts from all eras and regions.
Who can I help?
You are a private collector, a professional or an institution and you own a Qur’an manuscript or just a few leaves.You would like to know how old it is, where it comes from, or even if it is an authentic work with a good provenance.
You would also like to know how much this manuscript or these leaves could be estimated on the art market.
Methodology
Studying the shape of the book, the style of writing and ornamentation, the particularities of the text, not forgetting its binding and notes, can tell us a lot about the identity of your artefact and its history through time.
It may conceal erased writing (palimpsest) that only an experienced eye can detect. Or it may belong to the collection of an ancient library that has now disappeared, with only rare manuscripts accessible to a handful of researchers.
All these details contribute to the value of your manuscript…
Deliverables
I will provide you with a study document of your artefact, more or less detailed according to your needs, a certificate of provenance and, if you wish, an estimate of its value.
AN EXAMPLE
In April 2018, I worked with Christie’s auction house to identify 9 fragments of Qur’anic folios that were in fact palimpsests: the Qur’an had been copied onto ancient Coptic biblical parchment…
Although invisible to the auction house’s experts and to the specialists who consulted the fragments, I noticed this palimpsest as soon as I opened the catalogue. In addition to its historical significance, this discovery – made public the day before the sale – stimulated bidding: the fragments sold for ten times their estimated price…