Antiques 101A

I have been an Antique dealer and appraiser for 32 years now and many people have asked me where they can go and get classes to become an appraiser or help them be a better collector. While there are some colleges with courses, they are few and far between. When I first started there were no courses and darn few reference books of any kind. Instead I learned by collecting and by talking to advanced collectors and dealers, who loved antiques like I did. These people were willing to share their hard gained knowledge with me just because of that mutual love of antiques.

So part of the reason for this blog is to pay them back by sharing some of my knowledge with others like they did. I want to reach people who care about antiques to share more than just the mechanics of identifying old from new, or how to value something. I also have selfish motives for doing this. I think the more people know about antiques the better they will be as customers, and it will help keep the whole antiques and collectibles market healthy.

ANTIQUES 101A

Antique Glass Basics

We have evidence of antique glass beads in Egyptian tombs going back to 4500 BC. The basic formula for glass is silica sand and heat. If you have a big enough bonfire on a beach you can melt some of the sand and turn it to glass. That is probably what gave the idea to the first glass makers. The problem is it takes a lot of heat, about 2400 F. So glass making required a kiln or furnace to be able to reach high enough heat to be practical.

By Roman Times, there was glass manufacturing all over the world with several areas mass producing everything from bottles to decorative items. Glass tended to be high-end, like perfume bottles, while pottery filled the low end needs like food storage. The early Egyptian glass pieces were just lumps of glass that were hollowed out or worked by chipping or abrasion similar to how natural rock was used.

Eventually blowing glass into a shape was invented and improved over time. To blow glass a metal hollow tube gets a “gather” of molten glass on one end out of the furnace. Air pressure from a man blowing into the tube causes an air bubble to form in the center of the gather and by turning the tube and continued blowing the bubble grows and a hollow vessel is formed. Continued heating and manipulation with wet wood paddles, and other tools allows this hollow object to be shaped. It is broken off the blow pipe and cooled or it is attached to a metal “pontil” rod by a small bit of molten glass for additional shaping.

Free blowing and shaping was time consuming to learn and it took years of practice to become a master blower. This was fine for luxury items but for mass production this was a problem. To speed things up, molds were made and the glass was mouth blown into them. This took far less training and experience and thus was faster and cheaper and allowed the first type of mass production of glass items. By the 1820’s mold blowing machines were in use, which lasted until the 1840’s when mechanically pressed glass machines started to replace them.

This basic information helps when you are trying to identify what type of glass you have:
* Hand blown glass will show some variations in thickness and shape.
* It will usually have a pontil mark if it was shaped after initial blowing.
* The left over glass from the pontil rod is broken off and can be left rough, ground smooth or reheated so rough/sharp edges are round.
* All or most all American and English antique blown glass have ground pontils, mid to low priced continental European glass was more likely to be left rough or fire treated.
* Mouth mold blown glass (oldest) will have mold marks up the sides, though tops and lips tend to have hand shaping that obscures the marks.
* Look for more variations in pattern and thickness than machine mold blown pieces.
* Also look for “whittle” marks on the glass, these are streaky lines in the glass, (slightly indented) that are caused by a cold/wet mold quickly cooling the hot glass.
* Machine blown glass usually has 3 or 4 mold seams and a ground pontil on the base.
* Pieces with 2 mold marks tend to be pressed glass or late machine blown pieces.

The Changing Antiques Market

The Antique Market has changed drastically in the last 5 - 10 years. Lots of dealers and collectors have discussed this trying to figure out what caused the changes and what it means for the long run. I just want to put in my 2 cents worth on this subject.

INTERNET

The internet has been both good and bad for the antiques trade. It has given a means to reach specialized markets for dealers and for collectors to find items scarce in their local area. Unfortunately it has also taken away some of the mystic and rarity at the same time.

When the only place to find an item was in a local antique shop/show and it took time and hunting to find, it made that antique stand out over new pieces that anybody could have. Now with the internet, duplicate items can often be found with a lot less time or effort required, eliminating some of the WOW factor of owning antiques.

The other area that has been hurt is great bargain buys. Don’t expect to go out and find very many antiques at a garage sale any more. When the only place to sell was to a dealer or at a garage sale/flea market there were lots of antiques around locally and some great buys. Now because of the availability, most people put the old items they have on an internet auction (E-bay, etc.) rather than take a chance someone will get a deal. That leads directly to the Antiques Road Show affect.

ANTIQUES ROAD SHOW

The Antiques Road Show gives the impression that any thing old is expensive. People overlook the fact that they have thousands of items to look at and only show details of the top 20 or so of those. As an appraiser I have participated in this type of event and know how many common collectibles and out and out junk is brought in. Dealers and serious collectors know this but the general public seldom sees the junk (not good television), instead they see the cream of the crop with once in a while a fake for educational purposes.

The affect of this is interesting, making many non-collectors think anything old is worth money. I have gone to garage sales where people have priced old but common collectibles for 3 or 4 times what they are worth. I have quit telling them that they are way over priced, since they all think I am trying to get the price down so I can steal it from them. ( Actually had someone use that word, I “wanted to pay a lower price and steal it from them” ). At other times when I have made a fair offer for an item I have been told it is worth more and they will sell it on E-bay if they can not get their price. As a result I seldom go to garage sales anymore. Especially with the cost of gas today.

CONCLUSION

So what does it all mean? The market has definitely changed but good items at reasonable prices still are selling. Though the prices are down from what they were a few years ago. The high end of the market such as rare glass and pottery, good art, and historically important items are still strong. What the antiques market needs is new buyers. But it also needs educated (in Antiques) buyers. That is what I want to do by using this blog to educate people about antiques so they will be better collectors and buyers. I believe that the more educated we become, the more it will energize or reinvigorate the antiques market.