News

Mid-century oak and brass serving tray with Amerock patent-stamped hardware, c. 1950 to 1955
Screws & Slotted Fasteners: Drive Types, Countersinking, and Pilot Holes
Pull open a drawer in a piece that has survived a century and you will often find, tucked in an unseen corner, the plainest evidence of when and how it... Read more...
American four-drawer chest of drawers with turned columns and carved apron, walnut veneer, c. 1910-1915, showing dovetailed drawer construction
How Dovetail Joints Are Cut: By Hand and With a Router
Pick up any well-made antique drawer, pull it fully out, and turn it over. At the corners, where the sides meet the front and back, you'll find a row of... Read more...
Antique cast iron cookware: how to identify and date Griswold and Wagner
Antique Cast Iron Cookware: How to Identify and Date Griswold and Wagner
Two names dominate the American cast iron collecting world the way Chippendale dominates 18th-century furniture: Griswold, of Erie, Pennsylvania, and Wagner, of Sidney, Ohio. Between them they defined what a... Read more...
Desert landscape oil on canvas by Alice Cardelli Swett in an ornate Rococo-Revival gilt frame
How to Build a Gallery Wall with Antique Art and Frames
A gallery wall built entirely from matched prints and identical frames can look tidy, but it rarely looks interesting. The walls that stop people — the ones that feel collected... Read more...
Persian and Oriental rugs: how to read, identify, and buy them
Persian and Oriental Rugs: How to Read, Identify, and Buy Them
A great antique rug grounds a room the way little else can — yet "Oriental rug" and "Persian rug" are two of the most misused terms in the trade, applied... Read more...
Vintage Chinese cloisonné yin yang Baoding balls in a silk-lined box, mid-20th century
Cloisonné Enamelware: How to Identify Antique Chinese and Japanese Pieces
Few antique surfaces reward a close look the way cloisonné enamelware does. Hold a piece to the light and you can trace the maker's hand directly: a lattice of fine... Read more...
Two-handled American art pottery vase with mottled blue semi-matte glaze, in the era of Roseville, Weller, and Rookwood
American Art Pottery: How to Identify Roseville, Weller, and Rookwood
The American art pottery movement ran roughly from the 1880s through the 1940s, a moment when a handful of Ohio and Cincinnati studios decided that a vase could be a... Read more...
1950s Jefferson Golden Hour electric mystery clock with gold-tone case and floating hands
Antique Clocks: How to Identify and Date Mantel and Wall Clocks
An antique clock is one of the few collectibles that still does its original job every day — and that daily use is exactly what makes dating one so satisfying.... Read more...
F.B. Rogers footed silverplate sugar bowl, c. 1905–1930, illustrating the difference between sterling silver and silverplate
Sterling Silver vs. Silverplate: Hallmarks and How to Tell the Difference
Sterling silver and silverplate can sit an inch apart in a display case and look, to an untrained eye, like the same thing. Both take a high polish and carry... Read more...
Antique amber carnival glass vase with ribbed pressed pattern and iridescent surface, circa 1910–1930
Collectible Glass Colors: Carnival, Milk, and Uranium (Vaseline) Glass
Collectible glass is one of the friendliest doors into antiques collecting: it's affordable, it's everywhere at estate sales and flea markets, and three of its most beloved categories — carnival,... Read more...
Victorian Rococo Revival carved wood side table with cabriole legs and scalloped top
Mixing Wood Tones the Right Way: A Designer's Guide
Walk into a room furnished entirely from one matching suite and something feels off, even if you can't name it — it reads like a showroom, not a home. Walk... Read more...
Vintage pistol grip keyhole hand saw with blue painted metal handle, circa 1940s to 1960s
Antique Hand Saws: Disston, and How to Date a Saw
Antique hand saws are among the most legible tools a collector can own: the shape of a nut, the wording on a medallion, and the etch pressed into the plate... Read more...