I live in Hagerstown Md. This area has always been near horse racing tracks, especially before the Internet. Naturally, that type gambling activity will draw bookies. Although taking bets for people is illegal, there were more than just a few of them in this area. There was an auction held years ago, of a fellow that was a very popular bookie. Somehow, he was able to earn his living by booking and when he passed away, his estate was offered at auction.

It was then, that the general public that did not gamble, learned this individual loved antiques. When someone could not pay their gambling debt to him, he would accept a fine antique as payment instead. It was a windy day, and the auction was held outdoors at his home, under tents. 3 huge tents with table upon table of the finest lamps, silver , glassware, etc one could ever hope for.

I was delighted to learn that Ruby Lane customers could checkout via Amazon. I opened an account and four customers have used this form of payment. The Ruby lane video gives step by step instructions for opening an account. I applied for one on a Wednesday night, faxed a bank statement on Thursday and by early Friday morning, I was approved and customers could use this form of payment. My application and approval was fast because I order monthly from Amazon and use the subscribe and save option. I order gluten free food, books and electronics.

In early August, Ruby Lane published an article in my series, 'Evolution of an Antique Dealer' entitled, 'Elevating the Underrated'. That article illustrated and discussed a little bit about jasperware plaques.

This article elaborates on that subject.

Many of our collectors have honed their collections by narrowing their selection to plaques (or other objects such as vases) that feature specific things. For example, one collects only plaques with angels. Another collects only plaques with musical instruments. Yet a third collector only chooses plaques with unique and interesting floral details.

I have always enjoyed on site estate auctions. An on site auction is when the entire contents of a house (the estate)is being sold at the site of the house. You never know what will be found in an estate.

There is an emerging new reproduction field emerging from some of the popular auction sites that the collector needs to be aware of; Authentic old glass of a lower caliber (as a general rule) that has been newly gilded by do-it-yourself forgers. The patterns tend to mimic fine glass houses such as Webb, Stevens and Williams and Harrach but lack the fine detail of the authentic old pieces. It is especially tricky because the first thing the collector tends to look at is – Is it old glass? But then they neglect to pay a lot of attention to the gilding. Gilded pieces are worth a hefty premium over their unadorned cousins so forgers have found this a lucrative field.

The decoration will appear brighter in the newly decorated pieces than the older as a general rule. The detail tends to be gloppy and the insects do not have the fine attention to detail that the Victorians were so keen on.

Antique paintings on porcelain plaques are reaching record prices these days. They have the great advantage, when compared to paintings on canvas or wood surfaces, of retaining their original color and texture indefinitely. Paintings on porcelain appear as fresh and as vibrant as the day they were painted, even after one hundred years or more. By definition, they tend to be small, sometimes miniatures, as larger plaques were prone to breaking during the firing process necessary to set the paint permanently onto porcelain. Their subject matter was mostly copies of well-known and desirable paintings by renowned artists of the time or old masters. Porcelain manufacturers such as KPM and Hutschenreuther sold blank porcelain plaques to porcelain decorating studios or independent painters who specialized in this kind of work. In other words, the painting itself was not done by the porcelain maker’s in-house artists. KPM plaques can be recognized by the KPM initials and scepter mark on the reverse. Hutschenreuther marked some its plaques with the letters CMHR inside a shield or circle. Unmarked Hutschenreuther plaques can be recognized by their size coding system: a three digit code for rectangular plaques and two digits for oval plaques.

On June 20, 1837, Alexandrina Victoria, heiress presumptive to the throne, became Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Her uncle, King William IV, had expressed his displeasure at the Regency Act of 1830 and, in 1836, had vowed to stay alive until Victoria was 18 years old. This would allow her to assume the throne without a Regent to guide her actions. True to his vow, William died in the early morning hours of June 20. Victoria had turned 18 on March 24.

The Meadow Visitors pattern is an exquisite early pattern of Haviland Limoges. Usually it is difficult to locate pieces of this special pattern unless one happens upon a life long collection of a Meadow Visitors enthusiast . This early and unique pattern of Haviland dates to 1876 - 1899 and has been identified by Arlene Schleiger as #1155. Each piece of Haviland Meadow Visitors features different grasses and flowers along with butterflies and sometimes birds and is highlighted with hand touched enamel accents. We are always excited to see the unique and various combinations of butterflies and birds placed so creatively on this china.