What is Heritage Ventures?

Heritage Ventures is a digital marketplace that enables joint ownership of rare and valuable antiques / collectibles. By taking advantage of our fractionalized offerings, customers can diversify into “Shards” or pieces of one-of-a-kind, museum quality pieces, which historically were the sole domain of billionaires and institutions. We aim to democratize the market.

How Does Heritage Ventures Work?

Heritage Ventures is a digital platform that enables our users to own and trade fractionalized ownership interests or “Shards” of rare physical collectibles. The digitalized Shards are backed by the actual physical antiques. Heritage Ventures enables multiple users to buy and partially own the piece, collectively. The antiques are delivered by their consignors and held by Heritage Ventures until the point their shares are purchased in totality by one singular owner, who may then exercise the right to take physical possession of the piece.

The Process:

Evaluation: Our consignor sends their antique to Heritage Ventures. We only deal in pieces that we can authenticate, either through our own, or third-party appraisers and experts. We expect the piece to have a clear history of ownership. The antique is then stored in a secured location.

Tokenization: After the antique is assessed, we create representative tokens. Each token is a digital representation of a portion of the antique. Once the antique is tokenized, it is placed in the Agora, allowing Heritage Ventures users to buy those tokens. This is a first-come, first-serve process.

Valuation: Each token is worth a percentage of the antique, and the number of tokens minted and their individual opening value is linked to third-party assessment and appraisal. Where available, we will provide documentation / comparative values / auction sales prices for similar antiques.

Marketplace: On our Marketplace, customers may purchase Shards or put their Shards up for resale. Trading may go on back and forth, the price of Shards fluctuating, until a buyer exercises the option to purchase all outstanding shares, pay the associated commissions to the Shard-holders, and then outright purchase the antique.

What is "Fractionalized Ownership" or a "Shard"? Prior to the offering of any collectible, digital representations of the antique are created through the process of tokenization. These tokens, or Shards can be either held, or traded on our platform. Shards are represented by an (in-house Token / asset creation engine) ERC-20 digital asset that exists solely on our marketplace, and are held by our investors in secure wallets. Based on the smart contract within that digital asset you are now a legal part-owner of the physical antique represented by the token.

Can I sell my antiques with Heritage Ventures? Yes, you can visit our consignment page to discover how. We will research the piece based on your description and photos. If we decide to go forward with consignment we will agree on a floor price, based on comparables, arrange for shipping, and then hold the piece as we photograph, research, and prepare it for tokenization. At any point, up until a single shard is sold to a third party, the owner may cancel the agreement and ask for their piece to be returned. They will be responsible for any and all shipping costs in this event.

What kinds of antiques can I consign? We are currently accepting antique arms and armor from every culture and era. We also accept fine art: paintings, sculpture, glassware, furniture. But we are planning to expand into modern firearms, cars, and various other avenues. Please reach out; we are happy to consider what you have. Generally, we are limiting consignments we accept to a minimum value of 5,000 dollars. If you are unsure of the value of your pieces, please contact us: info@heritageventures.io

Where are the Antiques Kept? Can I see them? All antiques traded on Heritage Ventures’ marketplace are stored in a secure location. When possible, we will setup a 24-hour camera live-feed, so buyers can see that we are in possession of the antiques. We will be offering a Preferred Trader feature, which will allow select customers and serious buyers to request a viewing of a piece.

What are the legal requirements to use Heritage Ventures’ Marketplace? You must be of the age of majority in your jurisdiction of residence to use our platform.

If I purchase an piece, how can I receive it? Where do you ship? We can make arrangements to hand off purchases in person. We will also ship on a case by case basis, after making clear arrangements with the purchaser. We foresee no issues shipping, though certain foreign nations require more care and consideration. Please contact us with any questions: info@heritageventures.io

What happens if someone purchases a piece associated with Shards that I own? Customers who hold their shards / do not relist them for sale, understand and agree that, if the Buy-It-Now or the Acquire function has been activated as regards the piece of property associated with their shards that even HELD SHARDS may be purchased by the in-tota purchaser, for at least the original cost paid, plus 10% commission. If held shards are sold, the moneys received for those shards will be placed in the wallets of the customers who were holding. Customers agree that though they own the shards, the shards can be purchased from them in this event.

What happens in the event of inactive accounts? Any HELD tokens owned by Inactive Accounts (Inactivity as defined by 12 months passing with no account log-in) will be put up for sale at the CURRENT median asking price for shards associated with that piece. The owner will be warned by email, at least a week before this occurs. If there is no response / account login, the Tokens will be sold and funds deposited in the account owner's wallet. If an account is inactive for 24 months, the holder will be WARNED by email to login, or their accounts will be closed and any remaining funds will be forfeit.

Automated reinvestment feature: We are developing a convenient feature that will allow users to set up orders in the case that piece whose shards they hold is sold to reinvest any funds into other pieces on offer. Users will be able to determine what type of pieces they would like to be invested in. As in any investments, there is no guarantee that any purchases made by this function, on behalf of the user, will necessarily increase in value, or that the pieces invested in will necessarily sell to an in-tota purchaser.