There certainly is a lot to love about the silver of the American Arts & Crafts movement – the glimmer of a beautiful hand hammered finish, the impressive weight of a piece hand wrought out of thick silver, the variety of innovative designs. But what I find most interesting and most appealing about this movement is the fact [...]
How to Spot Good Vintage Costume Jewelry Miriam Haskell, Eisenberg, or Hobe
My old office had four to five large boxes brimming with costume jewelry on any given day. I loved sorting through the boxes. I would put music on, sit on the floor, and sort the jewelry into piles. I’d find the extraordinary costume pieces that stood out among all the rest. What makes one piece [...]
What Asian Art Beginners need to know about Antique Chinese Porcelain
In recent years the market for Chinese antiques has increased dramatically. Objects that have been collecting dust for decades have suddenly become highly desirable, fetching impressive prices at auction, often many times their pre-auction estimates. Just last September a white jade seal turned up in a suburban Philadelphia home and realized $3.5 million at auction, [...]
How to Decode Dutch Silver Hallmarks Looking for Purity, Makers, Duty and Date Marks
I still remember the combination of frustration and confusion I felt when examining my first piece of Dutch silver, turning the piece over and over and over in my hands straining to find anything resembling a hallmark. Eyes more experienced and better trained than mine could easily pick the marks out of a sea of hand chasing and [...]
How to Identify Silver American Aesthetic Movement Antiques
When I started my adventure in the world of antiques, I remember often hearing the phrase “Aesthetic” or “Aesthetic Movement” used to describe pieces which to me seemed completely unrelated. What did these pieces have in common, and what was it that made them “Aesthetic”? In time I learned that the Aesthetic Movement took place [...]
