Technical article

A Written List of What You Own, and Why It Raises the Value

A 2022 study of nearly 3 million auction sales found price premiums for art with documentation.

By Neil Solomon · 4 min read

Imagine two paintings of similar size and quality hanging in two houses. In the first house, a folder holds the receipt, a letter from the gallery, a note about an exhibition and a page from a published book. In the second, there is a frame and a memory. After the owners have gone, the two paintings go to auction. A buyer sees only what the paper shows.

That is the idea behind a written list, with a folder behind it. It does two jobs. It may help the object sell for more, and it helps the family and the executor know what they have.

What a paper trail may add

A 2022 study of nearly 3 million auction sales found price premiums for art with documentation. The figures below come from a research page of an art-investment firm, which cites the study (tier C). We give them as that firm reports them.

The same page notes that only 14% of paintings had pedigree records and 2% had certificates. Most paintings arrive at auction without the folder.

A 2021 paper in Empirical Economics on the painter Berthe Morisot found that the page space a painting gets in the catalogue raisonne, the scholarly list of an artist's works, relates importantly to price (tier B). The abstract gives no percentage.

Watches follow a similar logic. Hilco Global says a watch with its original box, warranty card and receipts carries a 10% to 30% premium over one without, with Patek at the high end (tier C). For lending, Hilco suggests a discount of at least 15% to 25% for undocumented pieces.

What the executor must produce

The list also meets a legal need. In the United States, Treasury Regulation 20.2031-6 asks the executor to itemize household and personal effects room by room. Items may be grouped only if each is worth US$100 or less. Where articles of marked artistic or intrinsic value total more than US$3,000, a sworn appraisal by an expert goes in with the return. The examples named include jewelry, paintings, antiques, books, and coin or stamp collections (tier A). The Form 706 instructions repeat the US$3,000 rule for any item or collection.

In the United Kingdom, HM Revenue and Customs form IHT407 asks for jewelry items of GBP 1,500 or more one by one. It also asks for each vehicle, boat, antique, work of art or collection, with its open market value at death. Other household goods go in as one total. If any item was listed individually on an insurance schedule, a copy goes with the form. A professional valuation is enclosed if one exists (tier A).

So the two countries ask for different things, in different amounts. A list that already holds the item, the room, the value and the papers saves the executor from building it in a week of grief.

What goes on the list

You could keep it simple. One line per item, with a photo.

The objection

You might say that a list is a chore, and the family can sort it out. That may be true for a shelf of books. For a piece of real value, the folder may be what a buyer is paying for.

You could start with the five pieces that mean the most, or the five worth the most.

What is the first thing a stranger would ask about your favorite piece, and could your folder answer it? Share it here. Someone may be missing the same page.

Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.