Every auction write-up compares African art to stocks and gold. Almost nobody has kept the price record that comparison assumes. We publish it: sourced, public, and built on a method open for anyone to read. It is the reference this market has never had.
One public record
Sourced, reviewed, and open for anyone to check
African art has traded for years without a shared reference price. Every valuation lived inside a single deal: a gallery’s asking price, an auction estimate, a private conversation between a collector and whoever they trusted. Okasen replaces that with one public record. We track auction results and gallery data across African art markets, score every artist and work against it, and publish the method behind every number so anyone can check it.
That same record now powers three things: the index itself, Ratings for lenders who need a number they can underwrite against, and Advisory for collectors who want help acting on it. Whichever one you use, the valuation underneath comes from the same place, computed the same way, before anyone asks for it.
Every figure we publish carries its sources, the version of the model that produced it, and a record of when and how it was approved. If you want to know where a number came from, you can trace it.
We don't limit coverage to artists with a deep auction record. Where auction history is thin, we bring in alternative sources so an artist still gets tracked, not left out because the data was harder to find.
Every figure is held to one standard, and it doesn't bend based on who's asking or how routine the number seems. Sources, inputs, and any doubt about an artist's identity get resolved before anything publishes, held to the highest bar we have.
Public, for anyone
For lenders
For collectors
One price record underneath
63,835 auction records, 4,308 artists with a public profile
Okasen publishes a public price record for African art: an index built from sourced auction and gallery data, plus two products built on top of it, Ratings for lenders and Advisory for collectors.
No. Okasen is not a licensed investment advisor, and nothing on this site is investment advice. Full disclosures are further down this page, and in more detail on our Disclosures page.
From public auction records and gallery data, sourced and reviewed before it enters the index. The full method is published on the index page.
Lenders and fiduciaries who need a number they can underwrite against, collectors building or reorganizing a collection, and anyone who wants a public reference price for African art instead of a private opinion.
Okasen is not a licensed investment advisor, and nothing on this site is investment advice. Index figures published for general reference are statistical estimates and are not appraisals; on their own they should not be relied on as the sole basis for a purchase, sale, insurance, or lending decision. An Okasen Rating is different — a scoped, contracted product built for exactly that use, on terms set in its own engagement. Full text, including how we manage conflicts across Index, Advisory and Ratings: Disclosures.
Individual figures may be quoted and cited with attribution. Systematic or commercial reuse of our data needs prior written permission. Full text, including what needs our permission and what doesn’t: Terms of Use.
What we collect when you submit a form or browse the site, why, who we share it with, and how we handle information about artists compiled from public sources. Full text: Privacy Policy.