By Anne Gilbert    When you see hundreds of items in the same category coming to auction you know something funny is going on. A case in point are Chinese porcelain objects, some supposedly antiquities. Many labeled as “vintage.”    For the last three years the Chinese porcelain market was “hot.” The Chinese were spending big Yen, buying back old porcelains. American […]

By Anne Gilbert    Q. This bronze dog inkwell was always on top of my late fathers’ desk. It is now on my office desk top. I plan to leave it to my son and would like to know something about it. Is it really bronze? There is no signature. It measures approximately 5 ¼” x 2 ½” long and 2 […]

By Anne Gilbert    Q. I found this strange, sort of pitcher-shaped object at a local garage sale. It is china and 10” high. On the bottom it is signed “Russel Wright china by Iroquois.” I paid $30 for it, simply because I am beginning to collect vintage and modern. I know Wright was a famous industrial designer of many things. […]

By Anne Gilbert    I often write about items that are out of the average persons’ price range, but can be of interest and have collecting possibilities. Carved rock crystal objects are an example. When they show up at estate sales, auctions and specialty antique shops, prices can range from the low hundreds to over a million dollars. Christies and other […]

By Anne Gilbert    Q. I collect old ceramic dog figurines. This unusual dog figure caught my eye at a church rummage sale. It appears to be a bank but there is no opening to get the money out. It is around 4” wide x 4” high and the paint is in good shape. There is “crazing cracking” on the bottom […]