Editorial policy
Sources and how they rank
Every page ends with a numbered list of its sources, each linked and dated. Every number, rule and attribution in the text comes from one of them. Sources fall into tiers, and the tier decides what a source may be used for.
| Source type | Used for | Examples on the site |
|---|---|---|
| Government and legislation pages | Duty, VAT, resale right, copyright and consumer-protection rules. Always the page of the country named in the sentence. | GOV.UK (IPO, HMRC), US Customs and Border Protection, US Copyright Office, EUR-Lex, Canada Border Services Agency |
| Museum and conservation bodies | Framing, glazing, light, humidity, handling and packing advice. | Canadian Conservation Institute, Library of Congress, Museums Association of Saskatchewan, Tate glossary |
| Reference and conservators' notes | Definitions and practice notes where no museum guide exists, such as how to roll a canvas. | AIC Conservation Wiki, Just Paint conservation bulletin |
| Trade: dealers, fairs, framers, auction houses, interior designers | What the market does: price levels, wall-hanging heights and spacing, commission, fees. Never what a rule says. | Affordable Art Fair, Christie's, Atom Gallery, Own Art, Royal Mail |
| Press, seller blogs and help pages | Context and examples only, labelled as such on the page. Never alone for a rule or a safety claim. | The Art Newspaper, seller help pages |
Hanging heights, gaps between frames and similar home-decor conventions come from auction-house and interior-design guidance, because museums publish few figures for a living room. Where a museum figure exists, it leads. Prices carry the date they were read and the currency of the source.
Checking
A figure goes into a page only when the source page has been saved and the sentence that supports it can be quoted word for word. Before publication, a script checks that every number on the page appears in the quote it cites, that every claim carries a source marker, and that the same fact is worded and numbered the same way on every page that mentions it. Sentences without numbers are checked by the editors against the source passage. If the source does not say it, the sentence goes.
The date at the top of each page is the last time it was checked, and each source in the list shows the day it was read. The scripts do not replace judgement: where two sources disagree, the editors prefer the government page over the museum note, the museum note over the trade page and the newer over the older, and say so when it matters.
What changes
Tariffs, thresholds and royalty rates change, and so do prices. A figure on these pages is what the source said on the date shown. Check the source before you pay or ship. Pages that rest on duty, tax or price figures are re-read first, and the changes page lists what was updated and when.
Who is accountable
Pages carry the byline of the Art & Found editors, the team that researches, writes and checks them. The about page sets out how a page is made and how to reach the editors at editors@artandfound.co. The method, not a single name, is what you can hold the site to: every claim can be traced to a dated source, and every error is corrected in public.
Not advice
These pages explain how things work. They are not legal, tax, valuation or investment advice, and nothing here says that any work will gain value. For a high-value purchase or a customs dispute, ask a professional in your country. For a seller who does not deliver, the emerging artists guide sets out where to go.
Independence and money
The site carries no advertising and no affiliate links. No seller, gallery, framer or marketplace pays to be mentioned. We do not sell artworks and do not take part in sales.
Images
The diagrams are our own. Photographs and paintings are public-domain or openly licensed images from Wikimedia Commons, with the author and licence of each openly licensed image listed under "Image credits" at the end of the page. We do not reproduce an artist's work without a licence.
Corrections
Errors are fixed and logged on the corrections page. Write through the contact page.