Originally published at LinkedIn on February 4, 2026. Foreword: Position and Transparency I write from a position that requires acknowledgment: I am both a collector and a scholar of Keith Haring's subway drawings. The Trimper Gallery Collection comprises more than 100 individual pieces from Haring. Our collection includes limited-edition prints, vintage 1st-strike posters, a substantial collection of PopShop ephemera, a metal subway sign, and a large number of Subway Drawings, originally created in New York City subway stations from 1980 to 1985. This dual position, as custodian of these works and as a researcher committed to understanding them, creates an inherent tension that must be stated plainly at the outset. The claims advanced in this article are grounded in material study, documentary evidence, and comparative analysis. They are testable against the historical record, against Haring's own writings, and against the physical evidence embedded in the works themsel...
What a Certificate of Authenticity Should Actually Tell You A buyer’s guide to evaluating the document, the process behind it, and the right questions to ask before you buy. by Alejandro E Trimper Not long ago, in an essay on Collecting Keith Haring's subway drawings published in Incollect Magazine, I made what I thought was a passing observation: a Certificate of Authenticity should not be treated as proof simply because it uses the word "certificate" . That sentence did quiet work in my inbox. Collectors wrote asking what their own certificates were actually worth. Dealers wrote asking where I drew the line between seller documentation and authentication. Galleries wrote about how often serious documentation gets reduced to a single piece of paper. New buyers, more than anyone, asked the simplest and most important question of all: how do I know what I am holding? I'll preface this by saying YES, I know some of this will be repetitive. It's not because I like ...