The Method applied to
The Method applied to African art
African art sits at the intersection of extreme counterfeit pressure (high auction records, thriving faking industries, accessible materials) and extreme opacity (oral provenance, contested attribution methods, export restrictions). The Method watches coherence between claimed age and material degradation, the logic of the selling context, and timing signals — records attract fakes; saturation precedes price collapse. Output: risk tier, the questions that settle authenticity before payment, and the Discipline Ceiling you cannot exceed without losing.
The Method's take
Counterfeit-pressure law applies with unusual force: masks, figures, and textiles that break six figures at auction are systematically reproduced, often using period materials and artificial aging indistinguishable without lab analysis or comparative handling experience. Contaminated-source law is structural: pieces passing through multiple Western dealers rarely contain discoverable margin; discovery still exists only at geographic source or in untouched estates. Affordable-loss rule is non-negotiable: above the loss you can absorb, a written opinion from a recognized institution or published specialist must precede purchase — the market pays certification, not your conviction. Verify all technical claims (wood species, patina chemistry, ceremonial function, ethnic attribution) with a category expert before pricing them in.
The math
A mid-tier African mask bought on narrative alone: asking €8,000, comparables suggest €25,000–€30,000 if genuine and from the claimed ethnic group. One attribution error or one undetected 20th-century tourist copy costs you the full €8,000 plus transport and storage. One missed saturation signal (fifteen similar masks in circulation this quarter) costs you the difference between entry at €8,000 and exit at €3,000. The 24-hour Insider pass is €100; the annual pass €3,800. The method does not prevent every mistake — it prevents the systematic ones that destroy capital faster than skill can rebuild it.
One question answered here saved you a mistake. The engine answers yours — the exact object, the exact number.
Ask the engine — 24h pass €100