DC Silver

If you come from a family like mine, you grew up with a very deep respect for the Kennedys. My parents deeply admired all the Kennedys. There was always a light and a sadness in my mother's eyes when she spoke about President Kennedy, and about Bobby too. These men had inspired my parents in the 1960s and that enthusiasm for these men who led our country through change and turmoil and gave it all for us permeated down into me. If my father and I ate at Martin's, we always asked for " the booth ". I always felt like royalty when I ate there in that booth thinking about our President and his beautiful bride, the pride of our nation. And later in life, while hiking in Ireland I was touched again by President Kennedy. I was far away from everyone walking across farm fields near the coast of County Clare. I spotted the ancient ruins of an old farm cottage, surely abandoned for decades. I let myself in of course. It was sparse. There was a bed and a weathered farm table...

The answer to whether you should hire The College of Arms in my opinion is a resounding  NO . The services they provided me were less than worthless, and of very questionable integrity. I would be loathe to level words against this organization like fraudulent or criminal, but taking money and providing nothing in return in every other business dealing I've ever been engaged in would be considered unacceptable and dishonorable. Yet, this is precisely what they may ask you to accept. But, so you fully understand how valueless is the service they provide, I have chronicled it here so hopefully if you choose to wire them money, you'll understand the very real risk that they will keep your money and do nothing for you except provide lip service. Here's some background. The College of Arms in London , "...maintains registers of arms, pedigrees, genealogies, Royal Licences, changes of name, and flags." The heralds are appointed by the Queen of England. This group...

Hallmarks can be extremely powerful and important in silver.  They tell the story of many pieces of silver that is absent on most other kinds of antiques.  For the furniture enthusiast, there are sometimes paper labels or pencil mark signatures, but these are rare.  For silver, the marks are often there, and when they are, you need to pay heed.  The absence of a hallmark can also be significant but we'll get into that later.  In this little article, I want to describe the non-US hallmarks that have been the most important to me in my business dealings.  The photos are pieces I have bought and/or sold some of which are still available at Crescent City Connection in my silver section .  I make a description of some of these marks and use many thematically similar pieces to give those descriptions.  I don't claim these are the best of the best pieces, just items I've been able to trade. For me, at my current stage of collecting, nothing could be w...

I wanted to write today about something that happens from time to time to dealers-- even with pretty sharp eyes.  Fakes.  The fact is that almost all dealers have bought fakes.  You won't see that many articles, because it's embarrassing and dealers think telling people about screw ups might hurt the reputation.  The fact is, publishing these images may help others who are about to get burned or who will remember these examples in the future.  Have a good image of a fake?  Send it along and I will add it to this post. Fake 1736 Spanish 8 Escudo Sometimes you get burned by a counterfeit-- or other times just valueless items that lend an appearance of being a good score.  Sometimes these fakes are intentionally fake and sometimes they are not.  But either way, if you have integrity you should never pass them along even as "replicas" and it would be better if you spotted them before you plunked down your cash and didn't buy them at all.  N...

This is a topic that is not often enough discussed by dealers.  When is something too good to sell?  For me personally, there are three factors which should be met that tip the balance in favor of not selling an item: 1. The item has great form; 2. great age; and 3. has some personal meaning or importance Here's a bracelet that fits the criteria for me.  What you have here is a Navajo made 1940s bracelet in the cornstalk pattern.  The corn plant or maize is associated by the Navajo as a sacred plant and is designated with the cardinal point of North.  It is considered a male symbol.  While this isn't probably the very best sandcast bracelet out there, it's very good in its form and finish.  The lines of the corn plant are nice and each branch peaks in a vee.  This vee is desirable in this types of pieces as it shows the sophistication of the carver imparting the shape into the sandstone mold (tufa).  There are older pieces, but this ...

Yachting is perhaps the grandest of American pasttimes.  So, inevitably, antiques related to yachting are both rare and coveted.  To be honest, I rarely stumble across any yachting or even nautical antiques worthy of a purchase.  That said, my luck changed on this last weekend.  I was in a coastal town on the mid-atlantic in one of my favorite antique stores which I visit probably once a month.  A young couple runs the place and they make a living "doing house clean outs".  While I have never had a major find in his shop, I have a good rapport with the owners.  Last Saturday, I went in with my parents.  My father was immediately struck by a watercolor behind the counter of sailboats.  It was a lovely..Boats at anchor in the pale peach of sunset.  The painting was signed E. Bienvenuti.  So, the shop owner knocked a few bucks off the price and my Dad pulled the trigger.  Good for him.  Meanwhile, during the transactio...

This is a question that is extremely pertinent to new collectors and dealers alike.  When we find a dusty old treasure, our first inclination is to polish it up.  Sometimes, this may be a fine thing to do, sometimes it ruins a perfectly good antique.  Here's a helpful list of what should be polished by an amateur and what should not.  Remember, use a good quality polish and a soft cloth.  Never use power tools (dremel) etc.. on old antiques. Furniture:   No.  If it's a good quality piece of furniture, having the original finish can be as valuable as the piece itself.  Do not refinish good antique wood furniture.  If you've got an old 1970's bookcase and you want to faux paint it, fine.  If you have a colonial era chair, do not polish it up. Don't do this! Civil War Relics: No.  Absolutely never polish up your old civil war buttons, bullets, rosettes etc..  You will destroy the value of these types of relics if ...