How to Evaluate Antique China
Some pieces of antique china are relatively straightforward to evaluate through the various factory and artist marks stamped upon their bases, but if the piece has no marks, or marks that you don't recognize, the item must be evaluated on its own merits. You will need to use the piece's condition, period, design and quality of decoration as your criteria.
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Instructions
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Check the base first of all, just in case there is a printed or stamped maker's mark. The right name can make all the difference to the value. For instance, if you pick up a small brown vase with the words Martin Bros. scratched on the bottom, then you are holding something worth up to $2,000. You might also see the signature or initials of an artist who worked on the piece.
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Look for signs of damage or restoration. An obviously placed chip or crack can wipe off two thirds of an item's value. Check all of the obvious places such as the base, the rim, handles, finials. Don't forget to peer inside bowls, cups and vases. Scrutinize the glaze for crazing -- tiny web-like cracks. This might sound insignificant, but it is also considered to be a kind of damage, and stained crazing is impossible to clean. Don't just use your eyes. Rotate the item in your hands, feeling it with your fingers. To detect restoration, look for variations in color and matte areas in the glaze.
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Estimate the age of the piece from clues in its appearance. On china dating from prior to the early 1800s, the glaze often has a loose-fitting quality, sometimes with tiny bubbles, flaws and inclusions. Using your general knowledge of the past, try to relate the item to a specific period in time. A piece with heavily worked decoration and lots of swags and frills, for instance, is likely to date from the second half of the 19th century. A more uncluttered look can be a sign of modernity, but it can also point to a pre-1850s date. While age is itself no guarantee of value, a piece of antique china has a greater value if it belongs to a collectible movement such as Art Nouveau or Art Deco.
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Stand back from the piece and absorb its overall design. Does it have any feature -- either in its proportions or in its applied decorative elements -- which makes it stand out from the crowd? This relates back to previous step. A piece that references the sinuous, organic shapes of Art Nouveau or which has the dramatic angularity of Art Deco will have a strong general appeal, even without a maker's mark.
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Inspect the decoration more closely to see if it has been applied by hand -- a sign of quality. Scrutinize color pictorial vignettes under a jeweler's loupe. Transfer prints will show lots of tiny dots, whereas on hand-painted pieces you will probably be able to see the brushwork. With factories such as Royal Worcester, the best artists would actually sign or initial these vignettes.
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Tips & Warnings
To read a blind-stamped maker's mark -- that is, one impressed into the china without any colored inks to give it definition -- simply shine a flashlight through it from the back.
Even if an item has been well restored, most collectors prefer the honesty of pieces that haven't been tampered with, because they can see exactly what they're getting. For this reason, restored pieces can be difficult to resell.
References
- Photo Credit antique image by Joy Fera from Fotolia.com
