Understanding Discoloration in Mulberry China

Video Transcript

"Talking about mulberry china, a really important aspect of collecting is condition. Here is a really good example where the glaze and the ironstone has broken down and it has soaked in all of this discoloration and it could come from a number of different places. You could get this from a house that has a wood burning stove, you could get it from a house that has a lot of smoke or intensive heat where it is really hot and what happens is the glaze breaks down and whatever is around it will get absorbed into that glaze. You can see it is almost discolored almost to a brownish color and then you will also see what happens with your ironstone bases is you will see this cracking and it's a crackling where the porous ironstone has started to dry and it cracks and opens up. What it does is it leaves itself an area where that dirt and debris can get underneath the glaze and so what you are looking at, is really really discolored. This is really going to affect your value so when you are collecting, condition makes a very big difference in your retail. So that is one thing to consider if you are going to collect this particular mulberry ironstone."