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Contact Information (Phone, etc.) Essays and Information: A Divine and Delightful Madness: An Intro to W. German Pottery (The most recent essay.) Learning the Basics about West German Pottery (This is an older essay.) W. German Companies, Designers, and Studio Potters West German Picture Gallery and Identification Aid (pictures of items we've had over the last 3 years) To Buy or Not To Get the Picture Straight: The Basics of Selling Glass and Pottery on the Internet Ginfor's Odditiques
(click to Pedagogy, Philosophy and Nonsense (my "other" site: writing, learning, and odd ideas like long hair and fairy god-princesses) |
   Conclusion to: "Get the Picture Straight: The Basics of Selling Glass and Pottery on the Internet" by Forrest D. Poston Thoughts About Books: Only the very wealthy can afford all the books needed to begin researching glass and pottery, but even if you're a hobbyist or collector who only buys a piece every few months, you can select a few to own and others to browse from time to time at the library or bookstore. The comfy stores like Borders or Barnes and Nobles encourage such browsing because sooner or later you will end up buying a book. Whether it's from a real desire to own that book once you've spent time with it or guilt feelings for thumbing through so many books so often doesn't really matter to their profit. Still, out of the thousands of books available, which are for you? I'll list some likely possibilities for something comparatively simple like marks, but you'll have to answer that question, as usual, for yourself. Just as usual is the fact that time will alter your tastes and which books you'll need. To make some choices, consider what kinds of glass and/or pottery you like, what you tend to see in your area, and what you can afford. In glass, the some pieces most often found, at least in the eastern half of the country, are Fenton, Westmoreland, Dugan-Diamond, Viking, and Blenko. There's also a fair amount of Heisey, Cambridge and Tiffin to be found, though usually not their best known patterns. Of all those, only Fenton and Blenko are still producing. You'll find numerous novelties by Degenhart and St. Clair, with current production by Boyd, Mosser, and Summit. One of the largest sources for reproductions is the Rosso company. They primarily use molds from out of business companies and contract the glasswork to various companies. Most Boyd and some Mosser and Summit pieces are marked by that company, but Rosso often leaves in the marks from the original companies. Far too many of the W over G Westmoreland marks are from Rosso production. The colors tend to be quite harsh, and once you're familiar with the old and new colors, you'll spot the difference from across a room. Until then, care and research are your best friends. (Always remember to buy the piece, not the mark.) For glass, a good start is Millers Glass Facts File A-Z by Ivo Haanstra. It's a lot of information for relatively little cash, an uncommon combination. There's a great deal of overlap in many of the glass books available. Unless you are especially interested in a broad field such as Depression Glass, I suggest buying books that focus on individual companies. You'll get much more information for your money. Like others, however, I've found that almost every book I've bought has paid for itself within a short time, either because I knew to buy or not buy a single piece. Go for the books that include both text and pictures. There was a time when I just looked through the color pictures and ignored the text and black and white (usually catalog) pictures. Silly me. Aside from being extremely helpful, that text contains a lot of really fascinating information. One general guide is that if the list of authors includes William Heacock or James Measell, it's likely to be well-researched. That doesn't mean that it's always right because new information turns up all the time, but it's a start. There are two links included for companies that sell books on glass and pottery. Check their titles, then check your libraries, book stores, and book vendors in shops or shows to get a look at the book before you choose (if possible). For identifying marks on pottery and porcelain, the two most basic books are Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks (1850 to present), and Lois Lehner's Lehner's Encyclopedia of Marks on U.S. Pottery, Porcelain and Clay. If you really get into marks, you'll want to get Marks on German, Bohemian and Austrian Porcelain, 1710 to the Present by Robert Rontgen and Encyclopaedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks by Geoffrey Godden, and Encyclopedia of Marks on American, English and European Earthenware, Ironstone and Stoneware 1780-1980 by Arnold and Dorothy Kowalsky. CLOSING THOUGHTS While the technical information may prove useful, the long-term issues all begin with awareness, being aware of your own actions and their effects. Out of that awareness, you can learn to choose your attitude, and a surprising amount of life comes down to the finer points of attitude. How well you learn, what you learn, and how much you enjoy the process are partly a matter of attitude. My name isn't Pollyanna, and I know that sometimes life stinks, people cheat, things go wrong. When you make a bad buy or miss a good one, it's fine to grumble, groan, and gripe for a while, but before everybody around you gets tired of the grumpy you, get it out of your system. For one thing, you don't want to be complaining so much that you miss the next good buy, too. Given that we're human, there will always
be problems, but some of the worst problems, and easiest to avoid,
come when we forget that we are human. Using the internet makes
the transaction an electronic one, at least on the surface, but
remember that no matter how many computers and switches may be
in between you sitting at your computer and your buyer sitting
at their computer, this is really a transaction between two people.
Hold on to your humanity, and allow them to keep theirs. When
either person starts thinking of others as a machine or as a
corporate identity instead of corporeal, trouble gets deep in
a hurry. We say, "It's just business, nothing personal,"
but business is always personal. Besides, people are much funnier
than machines. |
