Paperweights come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, different materials and designs. Murano for instance, is very famous for its glass paperweights and some can be very highly prized indeed. Another group come from Royal Crown Derby in England. In 1981 Royal Crown Derby issued a set of 6 animal paperweights filled with sand. They were the rabbit, owl, duck, quail, penguin and wren. Many more designs followed , all animal inspired shapes such as the Koala , Barn Owl, and Garden Snail.…
In this installment, we will take a look at one of the biggest factors that affect value. Its pattern and decoration. Many manufactures gave patterns names which they sometimes printed on the bottom with thier mark or backstamp, but this is not always the case. It helps to know when you are researching the value, but is not always necessary.
What does the pattern look like? Is it modern and trendy? Simple or Elegant? There are some patterns that are timeless and do not go out of style, but a lot of the busy designs have not translated well as styles changed over the years.…
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?
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.…
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.…
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 Marks
Impressed or incised marks, are marks that are cut or punched into the porcelain.…