Miller S Pocket Antiques Fact File

The only comprehensive, illustrated pocket book on the market for the antiques and collectables buyer.Each chapter explains what to look for when buying antiques - how to spot repairs and fakes, clues to dating and the history of factories and key designers. Comprehensive marks sections include international hallmarks and more than 1,000 marks from ceramics factories across the world: from 18th century Meissen to 20th century Rookwood. Since it was first published in 1988 Miller's Pocket Antiques Factfile has sold almost 128,000 copies. However, the market for antiques has changed dramatically: 20th century design, whether Art Deco or Mid Century Modern, has become a popular collecting area and so this completely reworked edition will keep the core information about antique furniture, ceramics, glass and silver while new sections will cover Modern Design - from Eames furniture to Murano glass, Spratling silver to Studio pottery.It contains all the essential information you need when you're on the antiques trail.

Explains terms dealing with furniture, porcelain, metalware, clocks, glass, rugs, armor, and toys and provides information on collecting and identifying a variety of antiques and collectibles

This title provides detailed information on how to spot repairs and fakes, and clues to dating pieces, plus a comprehensive marks section that includes more than 1,000 international ceramics marks. And because of the surge in popularity of 20th-century design, it contains all of the core information about furniture, ceramics, glass, and silver, but adds new sections on modern pieces, as well.

Will the rare autographed baseball your great-uncle gave you put your children through college? Is your grandmother's chest of drawers really a seventeenth-century antique, or merely a reproduction? A leader in forgery detection and forensic investigation, Joe Nickell reveals his secrets to detecting artifacts items in Real or Fake: Studies in Authentication. Detailing how the pros determine whether an Abraham Lincoln signature is forged or if a photograph of Emily Dickinson is genuine, Nickell provides the essential tools necessary to identify counterfeits. In this general introduction to the principles of authentication, Nickell provides readers with step-by-step explanations of the science used to detect falsified documents, photographs, and other objects. Illustrating methods used on hit shows such as Antiques Roadshow and History Detectives, Nickell recommends that aspiring investigators employ a comprehensive approach to identifying imitations. One should consider the object's provenance (the origin or derivation of an artifact), content (clues in the scene or item depicted), and material composition (what artifacts are made of), as well as the results of scientific analyses, including radiographic, spectroscopic, microscopic, and microchemical tests. Including fascinating cases drawn from Nickell's illustrious career, Real or Fake combines historical and scientific investigations to reveal reproductions and genuine objects. Nickell explains the warning signs of forgery, such as patching and unnatural pen lifts; chronicles the evolution of writing instruments, inks, and papers; shows readers how to date photographs, papers, and other materials; and traces the development of photographic processes since the mid-nineteenth century. Lavishly illustrated with examples of replicas and authentic objects inspected by Nickell, Real or Fake includes case studies of alleged artifacts including Jack the Ripper's diary, a draft of the Gettysburg Address, notes by Charles Dickens, Jefferson Davis's musket, and debris from the Titanic.

Organized by category of antique and containing subcategories of items in alphabetical order, this revised and expanded edition includes general articles, chapter introductions, glossaries, bibliographies, a cross-referenced index, and professional pointers for collectors and dealers. 10,000 photos, 1,000 in full color.