Evaluating Your Collection (Winterthur Decorative Arts Series) - Softcover

"A calmly reasoned, quietly persuasive document that can make the mysteries of taste comprehensible to almost anyone . . . The 14 criteria are flexible enough to be applied to nearly every object - from a Honus Wagner baseball card to a Queen Anne chair. They touch on such elements as form, color, and finish and help neophytes discern fraudulent pieces as well as concealed repairs."-- "Preservation Magazine"

What do Honus Wagner baseball cards, Queen Anne side chairs, and nineteenth-century ceramic lions all have in common? At first glance, very little. Yet Evaluating Your Collection explores the wide range of things people collect and teaches the basic skills needed to operate in the world of antiques and collectibles.
Is an object really worth the price? How do you know what to look for? What about color, finish, and form? In 1961 Charles F. Montgomery, Winterthur's first director, articulated a system for educating the eye and appraising the quality of an object. His 14 points of connoisseurship, along with additions by Winterthur curators, conservators, and educators, form an unbeatable system.