RFID and the Arts

Number plates aren't the only items counterfeiters produce. Some create entire instruments with the goal of passing them off as rare or collectible objects. "There is a lot of fraud when it comes to the provenance of instruments," says Sanford Forte, executive vice president of marketing and business development for SNAGG, the company that developed Carvin's tracking system.

Provenance—the physical record of an item's ownership history—is highly important to collectors of noteworthy or historical musical instruments. The pedigree of a Stradivarius violin, for example, can often be traced back hundreds of years through sales receipts, auction records and other documents. But that's the exception. Less-notable instruments often come with little or no historical documentation, leaving both sellers and buyers in the dark about an object's manufacturer, construction date and past owners. "If I'm a collector of rare guitars, violins or whatever, and I want to sell a part of my collection on the market, there's nothing other than occasional papers to prove the provenance of that instrument," Forte says.



While a new RFID tag cannot generate a history for an existing instrument, it can launch the provenance chain, attesting to its current owner and condition, and potentially raising the object's value. In addition to marketing RFID tools to instrument manufacturers, SNAGG sells a $25 retrofit kit enabling owners to add an RFID chip to a current instrument. Whether installed at the factory or by an owner, the tag serves as a silent witness, ready to attest to its host's origin whenever pinged.

SNAGG's RFID chips are about the size of a grain of rice. They require no power source and have an estimated shelf life of more than 80 years. The chips are functional between 25 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit and are impossible to remove without destroying the instrument—a substantial disincentive and deterrent to thieves.

Besides Carvin, SNAGG's customers include guitar maker Fender, piano distributor Chicago Pianos and Josephus Harps. The company has also partnered with MusicPro Insurance, which offers a discount to clients that own RFID-equipped instruments. Accordng to Forte, his company is committed to helping manufacturers and owners identify and authenticate their instruments. "We have a large database of instruments," he says, "and we have been working very closely with organizations like the National Association of Property Recovery Investigators and the FBI's Art Frauds group."

Wrist Action
As more arts organizations embed RFID devices into their collections, many groups are looking to begin tagging another highly mobile commodity commonly found on their premises—namely, people. At South By Southwest (SXSW), a music and media festival held annually in Austin, Texas, selected attendees receive an RFID wristband upon entrance to the event. "We're essentially using RFID at our venues so that we can make sure that the people who are trying to get in have legitimate credentials," says Scott Wilcox, chief technology officer of SXSW, the Austin-based company producing the event.