|
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) |
   Part Three: "Get the Picture Straight: The Basics of Selling Glass and Pottery on the Internet" by Forrest D. Poston THINGS TO KNOW Marked vs. Signed People tend to use these terms interchangeably, but there's a crucial difference. Unless the maker/artist actually took a pen or other tool and put their name on that piece by hand, it isn't signed. If it's just the company name, it's "marked." If it has the artist's name as part of a transfer process, it's marked. In pottery, you often see transfer images on vases or plates with the name Kaufmann in the bottom corner of the image. Those are transfers (not hand painted) taken from works done by Kaufmann, but name or not, they're marked, not signed. The point was driven home for me early on when I had a paperweight with "Kent Helms" impressed into the bottom. I listed it as signed on the tag until someone rubbed my nose in it, politely. Having the artist/designer name appear on the piece may raise the value anyway, but a signed piece definitely brings extra value. Buying the Mark Reverse the Nike philosophy, and just don't do it. Back in the early days, I came home happy because among my auction wins was a decorated mustache cup with a Nippon mark. Ginny was on the other side of the room when she saw it, but even from there she said, "That's not Nippon." She was quite right, of course. It had the most common of all phony Nippon marks at the time, and it was pictured in at least two references on reproduction or fantasy pieces. It also was a transfer decoration, not hand painted as it claimed. When you see a piece that you like, take a good look at it, then check the bottom for marks or other clues. Then take another good, long. close look at the piece itself. If it says Tiffany, but the color is weak and the form is out of proportion, put it back where you found it. Odds are that it isn't Tiffany at all. Also keep in mind that even most of the big name companies did work of assorted quality. There are some authentic Roseville pieces out there that are just as ugly as some of the reproductions. A year or two after the non-Nippon fiasco (if you want to call a $17.50 mistake a fiasco), I was at a small auction house in the middle of nowhere. At each auction they had far more furniture than they did glass and pottery, but they came up with some good items from time to time. On this night, they had a piece of gold Aurene marked Steuben sitting next to an unmarked blue iridized piece of glass with random blue threading. The Stueben may well have been an original, but it wasn't one of their better achievements and showed some wear problems. Both pieces were about 6" high. The blue piece had a rich coloring, and the blue threading of just a slightly different shade made a subtle highlight. The threading was also well done, random but still with a sense of balance and proportion. I bought it for $40, and held it in my lap the entire rest of the auction. It was by far the best piece we'd had to that point. I backed out on the Stueben way before it passed $200. Since this was before we went on-line (hadn't even heard of a new company called eBay), we had some trouble identifying the vase, but we eventually found someone with the references and we had a piece of Durand on our hands. Well, actually about then we had money on our hands, and our friend had the Durand. More recently, I was at an auction with a piece I really thought was Loetz. Much to my surprise, it had a Quezal mark. Well, a bad Quezal mark. Since the mark was fraudulent, most people were scared off the vase, and I got a pretty good deal. By the end of the day I was able to determine that I had an authentic piece of Loetz with a bad mark. You'll even find real Loetz or R.S. Prussia that have phony Loetz and R.S. Prussia marks. There's no denying that a good mark makes your job easier when doing attribution, and a mark can make the piece more marketable. Then again, if it's marked, then everybody else will know it, too, and the competition can get rough. When you can buy the unmarked pieces with a good eye, you'll get some chances to laugh at the competition. Okay, there will also always be times when they get to laugh at you, too. Go ahead and laugh with them. Pontil Marks When a handblown piece of glass is broken
off the punty rod used in the process, there's a mark left on
the center of the bottom. How big and how rough varies quite
a bit and can sometimes help identify a piece. What's more important
is what the glassworker does with the pontil next. Some are simply
left alone and are sometimes deep and sharp enough to cut if
you aren't careful. Other times, the pontil area is heated enough
to soften the edges a bit. It still has a somewhat lumpy, unfinished
look, but there's no danger of blood loss. The more time consuming
option is to fully polish the pontil area until no roughness
remains and the glass in that area is just as glossy as the part
around it, maybe more so. A polished pontil may be small as a dime or almost as large as the whole bottom, almost perfectly round or quite elongated. It may be fairly shallow or so deep you'd think it would go all the way through. It all depends on how cleanly the punty rod broke off. Once in a while, you'll see a polished pontil with a small crevice in the bottom where the break went too deep to keep polishing, and sometimes there may be a small internal fracture inside the glass itself at that spot. Even that is probably in the making, and whether it counts as damage or not is in the eye of the beholder (or buyer).
Some people think that the type of pontil indicates the age, but that's about as unreliable as any guide can be. All it indicates is how much time the company or worker wants to devote to a single piece of glass. Blenko makes beautiful glass, but they go for faster production and do fairly little work on the pontil (soften edges sometimes, but rarely polished). Steuben and Tiffany blown pieces will almost (almost) always have a fully polished pontil because those companies were more detail conscious. (Some pieces by very detail oriented companies don't have polished pontils because the bottom is shaped in such a way that it's impossible to polish. There can be other reasons.) (Pontil tip: After Carl Erickson left Blenko to form his own company, many of the pieces were essentially identical to those he did at Blenko in form and color---and pontil. However, after about the first two years, Erickson went to fully polished pontils.) Packing A sale isn't finished when somebody buys your piece. The sale is finished when the buyer opens the box, unwraps the piece, and smiles. That means your package has to survive any number of possible misadventures. I spent a Christmas season unloading trucks back in my college days, so I know a bit about what packages go through even on a good day. Just opening the door on a semi makes me wonder how anything survives the shifting and bouncing, especially since you don't know whether your package will be on the top or bottom. You need to be at least a bit paranoid when you pack. On the other hand, buying the boxes, wrapping, tape, and packing can set you back a large chunk of money. Most people have gotten used to finding a source for free boxes. That seems almost ordinary in a society where people move so much and the box trade is a daily routine, but then some people try to save money by stuffing newspaper or assorted odds and ends into the box, quite often in insufficient amounts. The problem with wadded newspaper is that used in enough quantity, it adds way too much to the shipping weight. There are limits to what you can pass on to the buyer because you do want them to buy again (and again). One of the worst options is using shredded newspaper. Simply don't do it. You know how much newspaper mashes down, and it's easy to check how much it lets an item bounce around. Most of what you need, at least some of the most expensive, can be found either cheap or free. If you haven't found a store where you can ask for boxes (or snag them when they put them by the dumpster), do so. And while you're out, ask about styrofoam peanuts. The office supply stores charge an outrageous amount for them, which finally promted me to mention it at the little healthfood store where I buy my vitamins. Turned out they get boxes full every week, and they had been taking it over and giving it to a shipping company (which was actually rebagging it and selling it). Giving it to me suited them much better. There are more places out there with styrofoam to dispose of than there are people re-using it. You may well be saving some from heading to the landfill. Every now and then, I get some free bubblewrap, but that and tape are the only things I regularly have to buy, and neither really adds a great deal to the per package cost, so don't skimp. Actually, don't skimp on the bubble wrap, but some people need to learn to skimp on tape. I use the "small-bubble" wrap, and with it every bit of the item should have a minimum of two layers. Three is better, and make sure any odd shaped or otherwise fragile parts get extra attention. Now the tricks. You don't want the bubblewrap to unwind, but please don't drown it in tape. All that ends up doing is making the bubblewrap nearly impossible to re-use, and the person you ship this item to may be just as desperate for cheap sources as you are. If you must tape it, use just enough on the key points. If you pack the item properly, it will have very little room to unwind. Some people actually prefer to use rubber bands in place of tape where possible, and that's not a bad idea at all. I just happen to be particular paranoid in that area because one of our cats has a strange appetite for rubber bands. In place of tape or bands, I wrap the item in a plastic bag as a top layer to hold things in place. If you want to tape that, fine. Once you've found cheaper sources for materials, you've got no excuse for skimping on the box. A little too big is better than a little too small. The minimum is 2" room in each direction. That means that if you ship a piece 6" tall and 4" wide, the box should be at least 10" by 8". A little more would be better. And we're talking about good, corrugated boxes, not something thin as a cereal box. When people use cereal-box thin boxes, the item tends to arrive in as many pieces as the cereal. I usually pour in at least 2" of peanuts, then lay a layer of bubblewrap to keep the item from migrating down. If putting more than one item in a box, stick some extra bubblewrap between the items. Here's one mistake too many people make. Don't forget to work the peanuts down into the odd spaces. I usually fill about halfway (enough to hold the piece in place), then work the peanuts into place, fill to the rim, fold the flaps down, then let them up and fill the new spaces. Maybe the item you're shipping is fairly common, but with glass and pottery, people are usually buying because of the beauty in the form or color or decoration, sometimes because of some history. So when you pack keep in mind that you're protecting beauty and history. That deserves some extra trouble and attention. Some Thoughts About Where to Buy/Where to Sell Unless you've inherited a lot of glass and pottery, have a large collection you're now selling, or people for some odd reason keep depositing boxes of trinkets on your doorstep, you have to find and buy pieces to sell. (I attended one auction years ago where the family had accumulated a huge amount of "stuff" because they had plenty of space. Each time the groups the family belonged to had sales, the left-overs got sent home with them just because "you've got plenty of room". They filled a ranch style house, the two-car garage they had turned into living space, the four car detached garage, and a semi-trailer parked in the wide driveway. Most of us don't get things handed to us like that.) I can think of six most likely sources for buying: yard sales, shows and flea markets, thrift shops, antique shops, estate sales, and auctions (and some of those categories can include either live or web versions). I don't know of anyone who really enjoys buying from all the different venues. Each has its own flavor, its own joys and shortcomings. I have a strong preference for live auctions, but most of my current buying has been on-line, and there is a special excitement when packages are delivered, and I get to be a child on Christmas morning for a little while. I try yard sales about once every year or two just because I can't resist that chance for a big strike, but I soon lose interest in driving around finding children's clothing and kitchenware. There are relatively few guidelines that are specific to any type of buying, but there are some important ones that cover all the options. Just keep in mind first of all that where you shop will determine what you're likely to find, and what you buy will partly determine the best place to sell. If you really want to see, learn about, and perhaps buy, Tiffany or high-end Rookwood, yard sales aren't the best bet. For my step-mother, stopping at a yard sale is a major social event that may or may not lead to buying anything. My neighbor buys at yard sales and similar venues until she has enough to have her own yard sale. What you have to consider are your goals and what pleases you. If you want to make significant money, that's most likely to be found by really learning the high end merchandise. That takes time to learn and a decent chunk of change to purchase. You can also make decent money going the yard sale route if you want to, keeping in mind that you'll spend a lot of time going from sale to sale, and when you sell things for a dollar or two, it takes quite a few transactions before the numbers start adding up to a figure that will at least cover the gas you used. The temperaments are quite different. Figure yours and go that route. For many people, it's a matter of starting with cheap box lots so going wrong doesn't cost too much. As you see and learn more about what's available and get a feeling for the differences and market values, you can work your way up. When we started, finding out we had a vase that could sell for $7.50 was a big deal. That was also when I thought the best deals would be at the small, middle of nowhere auctions. Whoops. After a few years, I started attending larger auctions with a broad range of items (places like Appletree Auction in Newark, OH, where they sell about 5000-7000 lots in a three day period). I finally got to see some authentic Tiffany and Steuben. I didn't buy it, but I got good deals on some Bohemian glass by Rindskopf while everyone was Ooohing and Ahhing over what I couldn't afford anyway. On the other hand, it was a middle of nowhere auction house that sells mostly furniture where I picked up that iridized, blue threaded Durand vase for $40. Too bad that was also before we started on eBay. You can't be everywhere at once, so take your time learning what your choices are and what you like. Explore all the different venues in your area, and maybe after a morning of hitting the yard sales, you can check out the local show just to see if someone has a $200 price tag on that vase you just got for a quarter--------and make a point of checking out any book vendors. Selling on the internet offers numerous choices as well. Yes, there is more than eBay. In addition to other auction sites, there are sites such as TIAS.com or Ruby Lane that offer various ways to set up your own store, depending on what type of items you sell. You can also create your own site, even register your own domain if you want. The internet isn't simply the world's largest marketplace, it's the world as a marketplace. We've sold to people on every continent except Antarctica, and we've bought from almost as many. We've even got a standing invitation to visit a shop in Amsterdam. Great as it is to have the whole world (at least a large chunk), as a potential buyer, you still have to get them to see your wares. eBay has gotten so large that having a beautiful blue vase isn't enough. Once upon a time, you could browse through all the glass and pottery listed on eBay, and maybe some people would recognize your vase as a rarity. Now, if you don't have one or two words in your description that someone will use in a search, you might as well own a shop with all the windows shuttered and no sign outside. Either way, no one is likely to see what you have. Also, if your vase shows up at every yard sale in town for less than a dollar, don't expect someone on eBay to pay $5 plus shipping. Sometimes, it's best to buy it at one yard sale for a quarter and sell it at your yard sale for .75. Back when I did shows, I was set up at an outdoor show in Manhattan and saw a really neat art glass plate. When I said that should sell well, the dealer (a local who frequently set up there) said, "No, art glass doesn't sell in the city. It sells out on the Island." A couple of months later, I took my art glass out on Long Island. There someone told me, "Art glass doesn't sell on southern Long Island. It sells on northern Long Island." This is a very strange game, and even with the world-wide possibilities, as the salesmen say in The Music Man, "You've got to know the territory." A few years ago, a lot of McCoy took off to absurd prices on the net, but the last few years, the more common pieces sell better in shops than they do on the net. On the other hand, once or twice I've put things on the net and ended up selling them to someone only 10 miles away. At least once it was someone who had visited the mall where I'd had a paperweight for sale for quite some time. She paid about $5 more on eBay than she would have if she'd spotted it at the mall. A very strange game. Experiment with the variations.
|
