Choice examples of pearls are scarce and highly valued as gems. There are, however, a variety of other materials have been used to make faux, fake, substitute (or what other term you want to use) pearls. Fake pearls can be, amongst other things, painted over glass and plastic balls and small shells. This post offers … Continue reading Pearls and fakes : quick identification tips

The Mohs scale of hardness is used to identify the relative hardness of a substance, from copper to glass to alabaster.  The scale based on the ability of a harder substance to scratch a softer.  Diamond is able to scratch steel, steel is able to scratch wood, wood is able to scratch chalk.  In the … Continue reading An aid in identifying materials: the Mohs scale of hardness

Having a basic knowledge of paper is important for collectors and dealers. Many fakes and reprints are identified as the paper is too modern or the wrong type for the print to be an original. This following a brief look at some important types of paper throughout history. While the type and age of the … Continue reading Identifying and dating paper

Purchase a copy of Identifying Common Materials in Antiques: A Pocket Guide * * * * * Ivory is a traditional and valuable material that comes from from the tusks or tooths of elephants, hippopotamus, narwal whales, wild boars a a few other animals. Since ancient times, ivory has been used to make figures, buttons, … Continue reading Ivory, bone and fake ivory

A popular hobby in the 1800s was collecting 'scraps.' Scraps were small factory manufactured paper pieces depicting most every popular subject from cute animals to royalty, soldiers to flowers. They were nicknamed scraps because they resembled scraps of paper. They were sold to collectors in uncut sheets. With early sheets, the individual scraps had to … Continue reading Victorian scraps

The original posters were on thin poster paper and in person have strikingly high quality graphics-- crisp, colorful and bright. I have heard that most of the reprints are on cardboard. There was a find of unused original posters, so the originals can be found in strong condition.

For a print or photograph, the hand coloring is typically done in a watercolor-like paint or ink. For vases and porceline, the hand color may be done in a different kind of paint. If the colors are hand painted, the ink consistancy and darkness will be uneven, like with a watercolor painting. As the brush … Continue reading “How can you tell if something is hand colored instead of the colors being printed on?”

Fine art prints are often printed in editions. An edition will contain a finite and often known number of prints. There is the normal print run, then there are often additional editions, such as an Artist's Proof edition or Printer's Proof edition. The total print run is the sum of all of the editions. 70 … Continue reading Editions in Fine Art Prints