About Rinkya Authentic

Collectibles are now held and insured like anything else of real value. Rinkya Authentic is built for collectors who hold high-end pieces with care: bought deliberately, insured, passed on, or sold on. Proof is what makes any of that possible. A piece with a named specialist's verdict, published evidence and a permanent public record can be insured, appraised, consigned and sold on that proof; a piece without it sells at a discount, if it sells at all. Rinkya Authentic supplies that proof, piece by piece, so a collection can be documented, insured and valued with confidence.

Rinkya Authentic is where collectors, dealers and institutions get one permanent, verifiable answer about a collectible: who made it, whether its markings are genuine, and what condition it is in. A named specialist examines the piece, writes the verdict on the attribution scale auction houses use, grades the condition on a published standard, and publishes all of it with the evidence photographs as a permanent public record. A serial-numbered hologram seal on the piece links to that record.

It is also the platform other specialists certify on. Category specialists and artists work under their own name and brand, on the same seals, records and verify chain; Rinkya runs the platform, the technology, the records and the logistics.

There is no paper certificate to lose or forge, no anonymous grading room, and no verdict without a named specialist behind it.

Rinkya Authentic is operated by Rinkya, Inc., a US company registered in Tempe, Arizona, with operations in Miami and in Japan. Rinkya has been inside Japan's collectibles market since 2001: over 25 years of sourcing, buying and shipping collectibles from Japan for collectors worldwide, under a Japanese secondhand dealer licence (古物商許可 no. 452540011179).

The authentication platform is newer. Rinkya opened it in 2026 to build the authentication infrastructure the collectibles market was missing: named specialists, published evidence, and a record that outlives any single company.

It was founded by Heather Russell, the founder and former CEO of Rinkya and the only AAA-accredited appraiser in the United States specializing in Japanese animation art (Accredited Member, Appraisers Association of America; USPAP-compliant), in the Japan collectibles market since the 1990s.

Every certified piece has a record in the registry, at a permanent address on authentic.rinkya.com. It shows the specialist who examined the piece, the verdict, the condition grade, the evidence photographs and the seal number. The owner is private by default and is named only by choice.

At certification the record's hash is written to the Polygon blockchain and timestamped in Bitcoin through OpenTimestamps, and the record is preserved on Arweave, a permanent decentralized archive. So the record survives independently of Rinkya, and any later change is detectable by anyone, forever, without asking us. If new evidence revises an opinion, the revision is recorded on the same record; nothing is quietly rewritten or removed.

Records are public but deliberately not indexed by search engines: the seal or the label number is the way in. Forensic documentation captured during the examination is kept off the public record, so a dispute or a duplicate can be settled against details no public photograph reveals.

Every certified piece enters the registry: the permanent, public list of records the platform keeps, one per seal number, each with the specialist, the verdict, the grade and the evidence. The registry is what a seal points to and what a buyer, an insurer or an auction house checks. Specialists and artists on the platform register into the same registry, so one seal number means the same thing whoever certified the piece.

The marketplace is the public face of the registry. Registered pieces are shown there with their permanent public record whether or not they are for sale: a collection can sit on the registry for anyone to see, verify and follow, and a piece is offered for sale only when its owner decides. When it is, the buyer reads the specialist, the evidence and the verdict before making an offer, and the record travels with the piece. Partners and artists list from the record page; consigned pieces are sold there too. Browse the marketplace →

Authentication $250, Advanced $350, Laboratory from $500. These are base rates and additional charges may apply; an estimate always comes first. A Remote Examination by video is $175 and a Photo Review $50, both credited toward a certificate later. The fee pays for the examination, so it is the same whatever the verdict.

A USPAP-compliant appraisal, for Japanese animation art only, is from $650 all-in with authentication or from $575 with a remote examination. Rinkya customers who have ever bought an animation cel through Rinkya can have one artwork authenticated free, paying shipping and a $25 handling fee for the materials. Consigned pieces are authenticated at no charge; the buyer pays a 20% premium at sale.

Packages and pricing → · FAQ →

Category specialists certify under their own name, at their own rates, with their own brand front and center. The first partner is CONSUMERCOLLECTIBLES ↗, Nico Collin's practice for The Simpsons animation art and memorabilia. Artists register and authenticate their own work, so a fake can never claim it.

Specialists and artists who pass our vetting can join; founding partners and artists get the first year free. Specialists & artists →

Rinkya, Inc., Tempe, Arizona, USA · Mailing address: 10105 E Via Linda Ste 103, PMB 3067, Scottsdale, AZ 85258

Rinkya Authentic: authentic@rinkya.com · Rinkya, the Japan buying and shipping service: www.rinkya.com ↗

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