Certificate of Authenticity
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A Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is a seal or small sticker on a proprietary computer program, t-shirt, jersey, or any other memorabilia item, especially in the world of computers and sports, which is designed to demonstrate that the item is authentic. According to a story on a January 2006 episode of "Real Sports with Steven Gerrard and Bryan Gumbel", many of the items with COA's on them are actually forgeries. Computer COA's have a licence number on them, which verifies that the program is a genuine, legal copy. [1]
COAs are also common in the art world. Generally speaking, a valid COA for an artwork will include specific details about the artwork like when and how it was produced, the names of people or companies involved in the artwork's production, the work's exact title, the dimensions of the art, and the names of reference books, magazines, or similar resources that contain either specific or related information about either that work of art or the artist. The COA should also state the qualifications and full contact information of the individual or entity that authored the certificate with his or her complete and current contact information.
It should be noted that COAs are incredibly easy to forge and should be treated with skepticism until they can be absolutely confirmed.
