What Is It? Members Offer Hints for Identifying Those Antiques and Collectibles
by Maeve
eBay Staff Member

Each month, Access explores different areas of the eBay Community, highlighting the collective knowledge members have to share with others. I thought I would begin a series of articles aimed at helping people learn about the resources available to help them identify and date their antique and collectible items. This month we asked our buyers and sellers on the Antiques Board to tell us about their favorite resource books and other sources of information.

I know so little about all the things I want to know about. So I bookmark lots of websites with good information. I have bookmarks on sites for old bottles, Pyrex, Japanese marks, cast iron...well, on and on. This link for identifying glass marks is very helpful to me. toneylee

Over on the non-threaded Antiques Chat Board we have put together and keep posted a large "helpful links" post. It has eBay's blessing for both content and intent. We even change how it looks to keep it seasonal. There are close to 100 links to things of interest to antique collectors, but we've tried to stay away (for the most part) from areas where other boards have similar helpful posts (like pottery and glass, or dolls and toys, for example). In the 3 years since it's been in use, it's accrued over 38,000 hits. I invite you to come to the board and take a peek. Scroll down to the helpful click post decorated with a carousel. bamaj1

We have pretty much the same thing going on over at the Glass Board on the "Welcome Page." It's a great deal of help to those of us who are regulars on that board. butchiedog_gone_it

I use reference books to look up marks. I generally defer to art history books and catalog reprints and histories of specific forms to get an idea of dates. I also have studied US economic history which also helps. But, above all, I have picked up and handled tens of thousands of things. People who were far more knowledgeable took the time to teach me about these items. My advice to novices: Find something you really like and enjoy. Learn about it. Read all the books and articles you can find. Get old catalogs and spend a lot of time looking at the pictures. Go to shows and flea markets, talk to dealers. If you can, meet collectors. Hope they will want to show you their collections. When offered, always go, look at the collection and talk with them. Learn about how people lived in previous times. Look at old movies and watch the background and decor. There is an excellent book, The Tasteful Interlude, showing Victorian pictures of Victorian interiors. For tabletop items, read old cookbooks. meridenmor

Resources depend on what you're trying to sell or collect. If it's modern stuff or 19th-century, mass-produced, spend a lot of cash on the popular collector's guides. Follow your star from there. For quality antiques or truly rare books? Go to local university libraries and museum collections. There's always the Internet. Learn the basics of Boolean searches, and you'll pick up a lot. There's no substitute for actually handling the goods. antiquei

What is so incredibly fascinating about the eBay Community is the diverse background of the members. Our educations, avocations, vocations, and interests are often the starting point for the information we're able to provide. In some instances, I happen to own, or have carried in our inventory, the exact item someone has written (on the board) to ask about, and the research was already completed. In other cases, I might take a moment or two to look up a mark or a designer. It helps the original poster, others reading the board, and myself. Being a knowledge junkie, I don't ever consider it an inconvenience to research a widget. retroragswi_com

A special thanks to these members, and to all those who share their experiences daily with other members on Discussion boards. To get to the boards, click Community from the navigation bar at the top of most eBay pages, then click Discussion from the Talk square.