General Interest Article On Identifying Materials in Antiques

[drcy]

The following is a short 'total beginner's' article I wrote on how materials are identified in antiques-- ceramics, glass, precious metal. The article is illustrated and can be downloaded and printed. It is 26 pages, so is neither a long nor a short read.


The article in pdf (can be downloaded, read online and printed out)


From the introduction:

"Materials (ceramics, wood, metal, fur, plastic, paper, etc) is a massive, ongoing area of study and research. There have been volumes of literature written just on diamonds, a university professor may spend his career studying paper and a New York art gallery may sell only art made of glass.

For the collector, the use in being able to identify and date materials in art, memorabilia and collectibles should be obvious. An '1660s toy boat' can't be made out of 1920s plastic. An auctioned '1800' map has to be made from paper made from the the period. A coin made of gold clearly will be worth more than one made from similar looking copper. Many fakes, forgeries and genuine items are in part identified by identifying the material.

Beyond authentication and fake detection, many people are simply interested in knowing what an item is made out of. Whether an old paperweight is made out of cranberry glass or lucite, that's nice to know. Whether the painting on the wall is oil paint or encaustic, that an interesting fact to know. It's a bit like enjoying identifying birds at the park. Identifying materials can be a hobby and enjoyment in and of itself.

This very brief, printable article is a beginner's identification and guide to some common materials found in antiques, including plastics, paper, leather and metals.

As a primer, this is not intend to cover everything nor make the reader into the next museum curator or auction house expert. It sticks to more commonly found materials and basic information. Little of this information in this book is new or novel. The key is it assembles the different materials into one document."

[thecatspajamas]

Interesting overview, and one I'm sure I'll refer back to from time to time. Thank you for putting it together, and especially for making it available in a downloadable form. Also glad to see you back up and around, or at least able to stab at your keyboard again.

If you ever find yourself wanting for short topics to write about, how about this:
In one of your books (which one specifically escapes me right now) you mention how some inexpensive digital cameras can be converted to an infrared camera, which in turn is useful in certain circumstances for examining pieces. Would you be able to give a quick primer as to which ones you know of and how to go about converting it? Even if it's just the single model that you have and are familiar with, that would be good enough to find a working used one and change it over. I did some searching at the time for instructions and/or pre-converted cameras, but everything I found was either a very expensive new camera that had been converted, or lengthy highly-technical instructions for DIY conversion that were well beyond my skill set. If there is an old beater model out there I can pick up cheap and play around with, that would be better than an expensive one that I use a few times a year and feel guilty the rest of the time for how much it cost (or, more likely, that I don't buy in the first place).

[drcy]

Search eBay and you will from time to time find digital cameras already converted to infrared for you. As they're normal digital cameras that have merely been converted to infrared photography, they work just like normal digital cameras-- can shoot and download pics on your cameras.

You don't have to learn how to convert them. You can find them already converted. The conversion involves changing the light filters inside the camera.

I have a standard Fuji digital camera that the seller had already converted to IR before I bought I bought it on eBay and it is simple to use.

There many art photographers who like to shoot infrared art photographs. That's why you can find digital cameras converted to IR on eBay and elsewhere.

[CarltonHendricks]

Thanks David for posting that....very good quick reference to have handy.