I think it's nice to be able to receive a COA or 
some sort of prevenance, without having to send 
in the cel. Mandarake is the only other 
production anime seller which has done this for 
cels I've purchased, even though I can't read it 
^^;;

I believe Anime-Link sent letters to the dealers 
rather than individual buyers. Was any non-dealer 
buyer contacted by Anime-Link? This is a big 
distinction because the loser when buying stolen 
artwork is the buyer, not the dealer. 

Someone who buys stolen art, knowingly or not, 
has no legal rights to it. The art can legally be 
confiscated, which is why it's important to let 
dealers know because it's the customer who gets 
burned if the dealer is not around to reimburse 
later on. 

I'm not saying someone would enforce this for a 
$500 cel, but there are two sides to this coin.