non-sequitor - SMP Silver Salon Forums

SM Publications

Silver Salon Forums - The premier site for discussing Silver.

SMP | Silver Salon Forums | SSF - Guidelines | SSF - FAQ | Silver Sales

The Silver Salon Forums
Since 1993
Over 11,793 threads & 64,769 posts !!
A Curator's Viewpoint Forum

Silver Salon internal search
or

How to Post Photos

REGISTER (click here)

SMP Silver Salon Forums
tline

A Curator's Viewpoint
tline3

non-sequitor

profile | register | preferences | faq | search

SSFFriend: Email This Page to Someone!

next newest topic | next oldest topic

Author	Topic: non-sequitor
tmockait Posts: 963 Registered: Jul 2004	posted 11-26-2005 06:45 PM I am hoping one of you who works as a curator can help with a non-silver question. Is there an equivalent of this site for identifying antique porcelain? Sorry if I am out of bounds with the question. Tom IP: Logged
Ulysses Dietz Moderator Posts: 1265 Registered: May 99	posted 11-28-2005 09:28 AM Not out of bounds, although certainly off topic. I do not know of any site for porcelain freaks. This site for silver freaks (as I affectionately call all of us) is unique. However, if you email me with a reasonable question (expertise is a vague thing; I know a lot, but I don't know even more...)I might be able to help. There are books on porcelain markings, but perhaps I can give you a start. udietz@newarkmuseum.org IP: Logged
Dale Posts: 2132 Registered: Nov 2002	posted 11-28-2005 12:10 PM For purposes of a commercial nature, the well known auction site has boards on the topic. You usually can get an identification, or a well meaning guess, there. It is under community on the site map. The University of Goteborg in Sweden maintains a site for Oriental ceramics. If you know the maker, there are a number of sites devoted to different ones, put up by collectors' clubs. What exactly are you looking to learn more about? The trick in searching IMHO is to use the term 'ceramic' rather than porcelain. [This message has been edited by Dale (edited 11-28-2005).] IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 11-29-2005 09:37 AM Ceramic dealers like silver dealers love to share their knowledge and talk about their wares. It seems to me that the more they specialize the more they have good information about what they sell Handling great number of items really does help one to understand subtle differences. I suspect that there are more reference books on ceramics than silver and with improved printing the photographs in books of the last 20 years have really improved. One series we have enjoyed is �Ceramics in America� edited by Robert Hunter. This in an annual publication and they publish research on ceramics. IP: Logged
Dale Posts: 2132 Registered: Nov 2002	posted 11-29-2005 12:57 PM Great points ahwt. Ceramic dealers, in my experience, tend to be more specialized than silver dealers. In part this is because there are far more patterns involved. Noritake has at least 50,000 patterns and Limoges over 100,000. One can deal in say green Limoges and still not see every pattern in 30 years of dealing. There are also far more ceramic firms than silver ones. In part this is because it is fairly easy to learn to make competant ceramics. The techniques are learnable in a short period of time; the equiptment is not terribly expensive for large scale production. It is very difficult to do so with silver. There is also the space issue. The amount of room 5,000 pieces of silver flatware take up is nothing compared to 5,000 dishes. Ceramic dealers are forced to narrow their focus. Or buy warehouses. A full line booth of silverware can be set of in a few hours. A booth with 500 ceramics takes forever to do. There is a site devoted to the ceramics of the upper Ohio River valley. It lists the various companies and their wares. Like the silver companies, these were caught up in the great flood of imports crunch in the 50's and 60's. Most of the china firms did not survive, also the glass companies went under. For reasons that should interest some of us, many of the silver companies did survive this. Though they are frequently ghosts of their former selves, they are still up and running. Why the US silver firms succeeded while the other tabletop ones went under would be an interesting topic for research. See, back on topic. IP: Logged
Dale Posts: 2132 Registered: Nov 2002	posted 12-11-2005 02:14 PM I am curious about this being listed as an active topic today. Is there some reason I am missing? IP: Logged

All times are ET	next newest topic \| next oldest topic
Administrative Options: Close Topic \| Archive/Move \| Delete Topic
	Hop to:

Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.46a

^1. Public Silver Forums (open Free membership) - anyone with a valid e-mail address may register. Once you have received your Silver Salon Forum password, and then if you abide by the Silver Salon Forum Guidelines, you may start a thread or post a reply in the New Members' Forum. New Members who show a continued willingness to participate, to completely read and abide by the Guidelines will be allowed to post to the Member Public Forums.
Click here to Register for a Free password

^2. Private Silver Salon Forums (invitational or $ donation membership) - The Private Silver Salon Forums require registration and special authorization to view, search, start a thread or to post a reply. Special authorization can be obtained in one of several ways: by Invitation; Annual $ Donation; or via Special Limited Membership. For more details click here (under development).

^3. Administrative/Special Private Forums (special membership required) - These forums are reserved for special subjects or administrative discussion. These forums are not open to the public and require special authorization to view or post.

| Home | Order | The Guide to Evaluating Gold & Silver Objects | The Book of Silver