Authentication Manual

What to Look For: The Connoisseur’s Eye

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Protect your collection against reproductions, marriages, and over-restorations with our rigorous inspection criteria.

Victorian wooden furniture detail and grain texture

Cabinetry

Woodwork & Joinery • 1750–1900

Spotting "Marriages" in Antique Tallboys & Chests

A "marriage" occurs when a dealer combines a top section of one cabinet with the base of another. Learn how to examine continuous side grain, backboard shrinkage lines, drawer runner wear patterns, and uniform patination.

Key Diagnostic: Backboard Oxidation & Hand-Planed Scratches Tool Needed: Pocket Jeweler's Loupe & LED Torch

Read Joinery Inspection Dossier → Manual No. J-04

Antique silver tea set and hallmarked silver pieces

Precious Metals

Assay Marks • Sterling .925

Decoding British Silver: The Four Mark Protocol

Never buy silver on seller testimony alone. Master the assay symbols for London (Leopard's Head), Birmingham (Anchor), Sheffield (Crown/Yorkshire Rose), Edinburgh (Castle), and Chester (Acorn & Wheatsheaf).

Standard: Sterling .925 / Britannia .958 Verification: Assay Office Date Letter Tables

Open Silver Hallmark Dossier → Manual No. S-09

Antique porcelain tea set and ceramic vases on mantelpiece

Ceramics

Staffordshire & Worcester • Bone China

Staffordshire Figures, Spode & Royal Worcester Identification

Uncover the differences between early pearlware figures with flat unglazed backs and late Victorian molded reproductions. Includes base firing hole checks and translucent bone china light tests.

Diagnostic: UV Light Phosphorescence & Frit Flaking Regions: The Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent)

Read Ceramics & Porcelain Dossier → Manual No. C-18