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Vintage leather club chair and ottoman, c. 1930s, a collected lived-in piece
Curated, Not Decorated: How to Build a Room That Feels Collected
There is a particular kind of room that stops you at the doorway — not because it is expensive or coordinated, but because it feels like it grew. Every object... Read more...
Mid-century Queen Anne Revival mahogany coffee table, c. 1950 to 1955, old form in a modern room
How to Decorate With Antiques in a Modern Home
A modern home is often built on restraint: clean lines, quiet walls, a considered palette. Drop a single antique into that calm — a carved side table, a pair of... Read more...
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...
Antique Haviland Limoges porcelain floral dessert plate, France, c. 1894–1921
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...
Antique Stanley No. 965 ratcheting bit brace, c. 1910 to 1935, old American tool steel
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...
c. 1930s vintage eggbeater hand drill, a hand-powered woodworking 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...
Millers Falls No. 107 carving set, gouges and chisels, Greenfield Mass., c. 1935 to 1955
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...