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Preserving a Civil War Family Group
Letters, photographs, uniforms, service records and later memorial objects.
American material culture, carefully identified
Know what survived.
Identify, date, authenticate, preserve, and responsibly buy American furniture, folk art, pottery, silver, textiles, glass, tools, documents, and regional antiques.
Start with the object
Browse major collecting fields
Each guide begins with physical evidence, then moves to maker, region, period, authenticity, condition, provenance, and market comparison.
American Furniture
Case furniture, tables, seating, desks, beds, regional construction, woods, hardware, surface, and provenance.
Country and Primitive Furniture
Painted cupboards, dry sinks, benches, blanket chests, work tables, pie safes, and vernacular construction.
American Folk Art
Carvings, painted objects, theorem paintings, fraktur, tramp art, memory ware, signs, and community-made objects.
American Stoneware
Salt-glazed jugs, crocks, churns, cobalt decoration, kiln faults, maker stamps, and regional potteries.
American Redware
Lead-glazed earthenware, slip decoration, sgraffito, utilitarian forms, repairs, and regional production.
American Art Pottery
Rookwood, Roseville, Weller, Grueby, Van Briggle, Newcomb, marks, glazes, shapes, and restoration.
A repeatable method
Identify without forcing a famous answer
Record dimensions, materials, construction, marks, surface, condition and provenance before searching for names. Strong identification explains why the evidence fits and what remains uncertain.
1.Name the object and intended use.
2.Read construction and material chronology.
3.Validate marks against the object itself.
4.Separate original components from later work.
Period and place
Styles travel. Construction tells the date.
Queen Anne, Federal, Empire, Shaker, Victorian and Arts and Crafts are useful design languages. The actual object still needs material, tool-mark, hardware, surface and provenance evidence.
OHIO A dedicated research section for Ohio-made, Ohio-used, and Ohio-documented antiques.
Explore Ohio antiquesOhio fieldwork
Potteries, Shaker communities, river cities, farms, glasshouses and industry
Ohio attribution is strongest when maker marks, family records, addresses, directories, newspapers, museum collections and physical evidence agree.
Ohio Antiques Overview
A state-level guide to Ohio furniture, pottery, glass, Shaker material, farms, industry, canals, river towns, and local provenance.
Ohio Stoneware
Crocks, jugs, churns, cobalt decoration, potter marks, river transport, clay districts, and repairs.
Zanesville Art Pottery
Roseville, Weller and other southeastern Ohio pottery traditions, marks, glazes, shapes, and restoration.
Cincinnati Furniture and Cabinetmakers
Ohio River commerce, urban cabinetmaking, labels, woods, regional forms, and documented shops.
Cleveland Antiques
Great Lakes trade, industry, furniture, silver, glass, advertising, civic institutions, and local makers.
Columbus Antiques
State government, printers, furniture, household goods, local businesses, political material, and city provenance.
Buy with discipline
Search broadly. Compare narrowly.
The marketplace finder builds focused eBay searches, but every listing still needs an independent originality, condition, completeness, provenance and shipping review.
Archive notes
Practical field articles
Short, evidence-based lessons on surfaces, construction, regional attribution, estates, Ohio objects and market language.
What Makes an Antique “American”?
Made, used, retailed, imported, adapted, or documented in America are different claims. Learn to state each precisely.
Why Original Surface Matters
Surface can preserve age, use, construction and repair evidence. Refinishing may erase more than color.
Why One Old Nail Does Not Date a Whole Object
Fasteners move, repairs happen, and old parts get reused. Date the construction system, not a single clue.
How Regional Schools Are Attributed
Form, woods, construction, decoration, maker networks and provenance work together.
Build an Ohio Stoneware Research Record
Photograph the stamp, cobalt, handles, base, clay and repairs before chasing a potter name.
Do Not Break Up the Estate Group Yet
Labels, photographs, correspondence and objects can authenticate one another when kept together.