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Victorian Burgess & Leigh floral transferware pitcher — English Staffordshire pottery, c. 1890–1910
Staffordshire and 'The Potteries': History of English Pottery and How to Identify Authentic Pieces
Say “Staffordshire” to a collector and you name not a maker but a whole world of English ceramics — the district that gave us Wedgwood and Spode, blue-and-white transferware, ironstone... Read more...
Fine ivory tea service with relief decoration — in the tradition of French Limoges tableware
Limoges Porcelain: History of French Porcelain and How to Identify Authentic Pieces
Limoges is, to American collectors, almost a synonym for fine French porcelain — the delicate white china of tea services, dinner sets, and painted cabinet pieces. But “Limoges” is one... Read more...
Antique German hand-painted porcelain vase — in the Meissen and Dresden tradition
Meissen and Dresden Porcelain: History and How to Identify Authentic Pieces
No name in European ceramics carries more weight than Meissen — the manufactory that cracked the secret of true porcelain and gave the West its own answer to the treasures... Read more...
Relief-decorated ceramic vase — in the neoclassical spirit of Wedgwood jasperware
Wedgwood: History of Josiah Wedgwood and How to Identify Authentic Pieces
Wedgwood is the rare case of a potter whose name became a byword for an entire kind of beauty. Two and a half centuries after Josiah Wedgwood pressed white neoclassical... Read more...
Antique forged iron implement, early 1900s — hand-forged blacksmith work
Forged Iron and Early American Implements: How to Identify Hand-Forged Blacksmith Work
Before the factory, there was the forge. The hooks, hinges, hearth tools, and farm implements of early America were made one at a time by a blacksmith at an anvil... Read more...
Mid-century American camp hatchet with hickory handle — vintage high-carbon edge tool
Why Old American Tool Steel Outperforms New: The Case for Antique Hand Tools
Handle a well-made old chisel and you understand the appeal at once: it takes a frighteningly keen edge and sharpens back in a few strokes. There is real substance behind... Read more...
Vintage Stanley No. 47 marking gauge — antique American woodworking layout tool
Antique Hand Planes: History of Stanley and Other Planemakers and How to Identify Authentic Pieces
The hand plane is the tool that best records the great shift in woodworking — from the wooden-bodied planes of antiquity to the cast-iron, precisely adjustable planes that made a... Read more...
Antique carving tool set — palm-handle gouges, chisels, U-tool and V-tool with oilstone
Antique Wood Carving Tools (Gouges & Chisels): How to Identify Quality and Date Them
Antique wood carving tools reward a close eye. A single gouge can tell you where it was made, roughly when, and how good it is — all from a stamp... Read more...
Millers Falls No. 107 carving tool set with oilstone in original labeled box, Greenfield Mass., c. 1935–1955
Millers Falls Tools: History of the Greenfield, Massachusetts Toolmaker and How to Identify Authentic Pieces
Few American toolmakers are as collectible — or as recognizable — as the Millers Falls Company. For more than a century its braces, drills, and edge tools set a standard... Read more...
Antique boxed American tool set — collectible woodworking hand tools at Viridian Eclection
Antique Woodworking Tools: History and How to Identify Collectible Hand Tools
Antique woodworking tools are among the most honest objects a collector can hold. A plane, a chisel, a brace — each was made to be used, and each carries the... Read more...
Mahogany nightstand with drawer and brass pull
Dating Antique Furniture by Its Hardware: Screws, Nails, and Hinges
The smallest parts of a piece often tell the biggest truths. A single screw, nail, or hinge can place a piece of furniture in its century — or expose a... Read more...
Antique steamer trunk chest
Antique Case Furniture: Chests, Commodes, and Cabinets Explained
Case furniture is the furniture that stores. Built around a box — a “carcase” fitted with drawers or doors — it includes the chest, the chest of drawers, the commode,... Read more...