Offered here for download or online viewing is a new pdf ebook by David Cycleback.  It is a beginner's guide to identifying common materials in antiques, including glass, gems, wood, metals, plastics and more.  The 100+ pages ebook is heavily illustrated in color and is designed for the beginner. download guide . , , , … Continue reading Introduction to Identifying Common Materials in Antiques (ebook)

Written by the prominent art historian and authentication expert David Cycleback, Judging the Authenticity of Photographs: The Basics for Collectors covers the essentials to identifying, dating, understanding and authenticating photographs from the origins in the 1800s to today. It covers the whole range of photos, from tintypes to Polaroids, cabinet cards to wirephotos, salt prints … Continue reading Guide to Identifying Photographs — book — 1800s to Modern

Fur: Real versus Fake fur Fake fur is a relatively modern invention. Thus, fake fur will help identify fake fur will help identify an 'antique' item as a fake antique, retro, reproduction or altered in modern times. Fake fur was introduced in 1929 and has been commercially available since the 1950s. Due to animal right … Continue reading A few tips for identifying real versus fake vintage fur

Wood Even experienced wood experts say that identifying the type of wood is difficult and involves guessing. There are a number of reasons for this difficulty. One is trees are generally categorized by external qualities such as shape, flowers and leaves, rather by the inner wood. This means different woods can be similar in grain … Continue reading Identifying wood in antiques Part I: an introduction for beginning collectors

Purchase a copy of Identifying Common Materials in Antiques Identifying Non-Precious Metals Metals are identified by examining numerals qualities, including appearance (color, shine, signs of aging), weight, magnification (drawn to magnet or not), use (your bicycle spokes won't be made out of sterling silver) and hardness. Metal is often easy to identify. It can be … Continue reading Identifying Non-Precious Metals : a quick look

download Return Trip: aesthetics and epistemology "Looking at visual illusions and how they work show us that reality and human perception of reality are different things." Return Trip by David Cycleback is a shortened, chopped-up and transformed version of prominent art historian Cycleback's earlier published works on aesthetics, psychology and epistemology. It examines aesthetic perception … Continue reading Aesthetics and Epistemology * Free ebook

Terra cotta is a type of earthenware (as opposed to porcelain and stoneware) that is common but looks distinctly different from most other earthenware.   Terra cotta is usually a distinct orangish, but sometimes is brown/gray.  As with all earentheware it is not water tight and must be glazed to hold water.  Only unglazed stoneware … Continue reading Terra Cotta

Purchase a copy of Identifying Common Materials in Antiques: A Pocket Guide * * * * * It goes without saying that diamonds are expensive and always in high demand.  There are numerous kinds of fake or faux diamonds, including glass, plastic, simulant and synthetic stones.  While expert diamond and gemstone requires scientific tests and … Continue reading Judging if a Diamond is Real or Fake: A Few Quick Tips

Goldstone is glass with metal shavings inside.  It can be molded into many shapes, and is sometimes mistaken for a stone or gem.   

Purchase a copy of Identifying Common Materials in Antiques * * * * * Glass is labeled and catalogued in different ways, including by its formula or chemical recipe, how the final shape is formed, its style and genre. The following are standard types of glass, defined by the formula, method and genre. Pressed glass. … Continue reading A Look at Different Types of Antique Glass