Fine China Archives - Making Life More Lovely

How Much is my China worth? Part 4 – Condition

February 21, 2015 By Melanie

With real estate it is location, location, location. With china and porcelain it's condition, condition, condition. There are some exceptions, where a pattern is extremely rare. Your family may have been using it for years, but the person who is going to buy your piece doesn't want the defects.

So what affects the value of a piece?

Chips
Cracks
Crazing
Wear

Small nicks or chips to pieces generally get put into the donation pile unless they are a foot of a tureen or large item, but the value is hugely decreased.…

How Much is My China Worth? Part 3 – Is it Hand Painted?

February 13, 2015 By Melanie

In this post, we will tackle the question of, Is my china hand painted? This is a key item in determining value, especially if the design is complex. So how do we tell? This may seem like an easy question, but it can be tricky.

First, a little bit of history. All porcelain and china was hand painted to start with – a very time consuming process. Early in the 1820s, a process was developed in Staffordshire England, the great porcelain and pottery up of England, that was called transferware.…

How Much is my China Worth? Part 2 – How Old is It?

February 7, 2015 By Melanie

In this post we will try to help answer the question, How old is my china? So how do we start? First we need to look at the bottom of the china pieces to find the mark or back stamp that the manufacturer put on the pieces. This usually comes in three forms.

Impressed or Incised
Hand Painted marks
Printed (usually under the glaze)

Impressed or Incised Marks

Impressed or incised marks, are marks that are cut or punched into the porcelain.…

How Much is my China Worth? Part 1 – Overview

February 3, 2015 By Melanie

This is probably the number one question people ask, and of course they want an easy answer. As with life, there are no easy answers, but hopefully we can give you some of the right questions to ask so you can at least get an idea. So where do we start? We start by answering these questions:

Who made it?
When was it made?
Is it hand painted?
How is the condition?
What pattern is it?

…

Spectacular Royal Crown Derby Find

January 29, 2015 By Melanie

We had a wonderful day at an Auction the other day. One of the big highlights for us, was a wonderful presentation set of Royal Crown Derby coffee cups in an original case. I have a soft spot for Royal Crown Derby porcelain as the quality of their work is superb. They are one of the oldest porcelain manufactures in England going back to the 1750s. This was special for two reasons.

These presentation sets are very rare and secondly the pattern is Old Imari Solid Gold Band is one of Royal Crown Derby most exclusive and expensive lines.…