Antiques Roadshow Primer

Through its traveling events and enormously popular series on PBS, Antiques Roadshow has taught us to look for hidden treasures in our attics--perhaps to find, as other lucky souls have, a Baltimore album quilt worth $50,000 or a Seymour card table like the one picked up at a garage sale for $25 and subsequently appraised at $200,000.

Now beginning collectors, antiques lovers, auction-goers, and flea-market mavens can extend their knowledge and hone their instincts with the Antiques Roadshow Primer. A take-you-by-the-hand introductory guide, the primer focuses on traditional categories of antiques and collectibles, including jewelry, silver, paintings, furniture, dolls, toys, metalwork, and porcelain. Not only each chapter but each lively page is brimming with information, providing and introductory overview that will help transform the enthusiast into a connoisseur.

Take "Furniture," for example. It explains how our own craftsmen interpreted and "Americanized" a melting pot of styles like Chippendale and French Empire. How to identify the four categories of old furniture: antique, used, reproduction, and, best of all, period, How to distinguish between old and new veneer and find the distinct pattern of a circular saw, indicating a piece made after 1840. And all of this comes just in the first five pages.

Along the way extensive illustrations, photographs, and charts show both classic and quirky examples, highlighting important visual details, tracing the history of artists and styles, and capturing pertinent Roadshow discoveries. Experts in the field contribute their own tips, sharing such secrets as how to use a scratch test to tell if a stone is Imperial jade or nephrite, and why ill-defined fingers on a bronze statue mean it's a reproduction.

Every collector asks two questions about a piece: Is it old? Is it valuable? And every page of the Antiques Roadshow Primer helps to supply the answer.

Family Heirlooms & Flea Market Finds

IS IT OLD? IS IT VALUABLE?

Part adventure, part history lesson, and part treasure hunt, Antiques Roadshow, PBS's hit series, shares its passion and expertise in a jam-packed, thoroughly illustrated introduction to antiques and collectibles.

What does "EPNS" mean on a piece of silver? How can furniture be judged by its hardware? Why touch diamond jewelry to your upper lip? How can a Peale be identified by the subject's eyelids? The primer introduces all the essentials: style, period, provenance, pattern, rarity, motifs, maker's marks--plus a running feature called "Old News," listing items that people love to collect but that are just too common to be of value.

What's waiting to be found in your attic?

Anitques Roadshow draws millions and millions of viewers to the edge of their seats, as it brings independent dealers and specialists from the country's leading auction houses together to appraise family antiques at events held around the country.

Carol Prisant is the New York editor of the British magazine The World of Interiors. She also writes about antiques and collectibles for Martha Stewart Living, House Beautiful, New York, and other magazines. A former antiques dealer, Ms. Prisant is an appraiser of fine and decorative arts and a member of the Appraisers Association of America.

Foreward

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One

FURNITURE

Is It Old?

Is It Valuable?

American Furniture

English and Continental Furniture

Chapter Two

SILVER

Types of Silver

Making Silver Objects

Understanding Hallmarks

American Silver

English and Continental Silver

Is It Old?

Is It Valuable?

Chapter Three

PORCELAIN, POTTERY, AND GLASS

Porcelain

Pottery

Is It Old?

Is It Valuable?

Glass

Is It Old?

Is It Valuable?

Chapter Four

PAINTINGS

Is It Legitimate?

Connoisseurship

Folk Painting

Chapter Five

JEWELRY

Is It Real?

Is It Old?

Chapter Six

CLOCKS AND WATCHES

Anatomy of a Timepiece

Clocks

Watches

Chapter Seven

METALWORK

Bronze

Brass

Copper

Pewter

Iron

Folk Art

Chapter Eight

RUGS, QUILTS, AND SAMPLERS

Rugs

Quilts

Samplers

Chapter Nine

TOYS, DOLLS, AND COLLECTIBLES

Toys

Dolls

Teddy Bears

Collectibles

Chapter Ten

BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS

Books

Manuscripts

Glossary

Suggested Reading and Resources

Finding an Appraiser

Auction Houses

Appraisal Organizations

Antiques Roadshow Appraisers

Photo Credits

Index