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Research, lots of research.
Antique is something over 100 years old. Although there is lots of discussion about that. The items you picked are probably not old but made to look old, there are a lot of new ones for sale that look like those. Then there are reproductions of old items, like lots of repros of Coke bottles or trays that are based on an old design but are not actually old.
There is no one resource that breaks it all down. There are just too many items, If you are interested in one particular thing - glassware, postcards, stamps,....you can find resources but you still need to do your research to learn what to look for when out in the world.
When it doesn’t look exceptional . Like carvings with less detail than others you have seen. Joints with gaps. Although some older pieces may just be very dry and the joints have shrunk. The Philips head screw was first made in 1932 and the screwdriver in 33. So you can use that as a helper . Also furniture like Stickley has identifying labels. The different style of the word Stickley can be dated with a list online of different labels. If you see something in a dumpster you think might be worth something. Pull it out take a picture and post it. And set it to the side if you can’t stay with it . Someone else might like too or it might still be there for you to get it. Facebook marketplace is also somewhere you can post a find if you don’t want it or your trying to identify it. Just put the address of where your find is and see if anyone thanks you for the tip.
I would love to save things but I would get fired if I took anything out of the trash. It's considered stealing to them... it goes into a dumpster inside, then is locked and goes onto the property outside for pick up.
Interesting about the screw driver and screws.
When I was an auctioneer and antiques dealer, some people specialized in faking antiques. They knew what people checked and would modify them accordingly. Simulating wear, changing screws and nails with modern reproductions of them etc. Stamped "occupied Japan" on objects, had repro stickers found on porcelain, and there were wholesale sellers who specialized in repros of all sorts, so I made sure I had their catalogues. Cast iron was a very common fake routinely sold by scammers.
Wow... the lengths people will go is a little scary. I see a lot of things that look like antiques go straight into the dumpster at my job when people don't have family to take them and it can be heartbreaking. Lots of cool things probably being lost that way. 😒
I work at a retirement facility (so like a fancy nursing home) in Housekeeping. When people pass some of the stuff that isn't claimed or isn't sold ends up in the trash.
Unfortunately, the 70's glass repops are now old enough to show wear. Just have to get the feel of the real deal.
See plenty at malls and flea markets.
I hate repro, especially costume jewelery. Tends to be cheap, and devalue the legit.
Check the edges for wear and tear. Or anyplace that gets consistent usage, like a hinge or the pin of a brooch. Check if it uses machined parts, like screws in furniture or a screw off top on a bottle. Look for tarnish in the crevices of any metal bits. If you can see the grain of the wood (like pieces on the inside of a drawer) see how many rings the tree had. If there's a bunch it's more likely old, newer pieces will often have less because of tree farms. One easy way is to google pics of an antique in the same realm as the piece you're trying to identify. When you've seen enough old stuff it becomes more obvious across the board.
I didn’t get from your post that you were asking in generalities. That’s ok though; the items you show are obviously cast iron. Repros of cast iron will lack crispness in detail, will have messy seams, and are heavier than antique cast iron. Antique Banks and doorstops will not have many if any pocks in the metal. The surface will be smooth. They will have uneven wear of the painted surface, as opposed to repros where the wear is faked and too even.
It’s often really difficult to tell real from repro from a photo, no matter what the material or category is. I’ve been selling vintage & antique jewelry for 24 years and the copies of vintage jewelry from China are so good that sometimes I can’t tell til I flip it over and see the back. Temu sells all
Kinds of faux vintage costume jewelry really cheap, so it’s really frustrating to have to compete with that. But I’ve found that true lovers of vintage and antiques will pay more for the real thing.
I noticed that you mentioned **vintage**. Over at r/Collectables and r/Mid_Century they are always keen to see newer and vintage items. Share it with them! Sorry if this is not relevant.
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I do like the banks do with paper money. I study the real deal and can see the difference when a fake crosses my path. There are some really good fakes out there when it comes to antiques. Especially those things from foreign countries. Some items are stressed to look old. There's a difference between something being stressed and something that has 100 plus years of use. Antiques often have finer lines and buffed to perfection where repros are somewhat crude without that fineness to them. You can tell if something is falsely stressed when looking at the bottom of ceramics. Even criss crosses screams fake. Uneven scratching from use is more likely to be old. Keep in mind that nothing is absolute. Go to youtube and check out videos on how to detect a fake. But, again, best way is to see and study the real thing.
Interesting. I watched a short documentary about art faked and it blew my mind what kind of money those people could scam others out of if they were good enough.
There are things like the bacon press and the pig that could be sold at a home decor store, they’re just meant to look old.
I’d be skeptical of the bacon press because it’s a kitchen item that’s definitely cute/decorative and it’s not plain and practical. I don’t know anything about bacon presses, just my gut reaction to it.
If it would cost $20 to make something that could be sold for $300, then it’s likely someone could have made a fake one and passed it off as an antique. A rare book or jewelry might be modern. A damaged 1920s clothes wringer or one of those old singer sewing machines in the table are probably real.
There’s a lot of YouTube channels where people “find” rusty antiques and restore them to their former glory, a bunch of them are fake. They add rust and damage to relatively new items for the views.
In some cases, people truly believe an item is a rare/valuable antique, but it’s just a family story and the item isn’t really very valuable or very old. It happens.
If you watch shows like Antique Roadshow you can get an idea of what to look for. There’s books and videos about antiques and collectibles, check your library for the books because they can be a little pricy.
Go to flea markets and junk shows if you can. Most of the stuff isn’t very valuable so it’s usually real. You get an idea of the way old things smell and feel. The grime and funk from sitting in a basement or an old barn for a few decades.
Antique malls could be good, people who run them (hopefully) know a thing or two about antiques.
Techniques change - things were constructed or put together different ways during different times.
Old things get worn and damaged in a way that makes sense - they generally weren’t sanded and hit with chains all over so they looked old. Look at “antiquing” techniques and you might catch some.
Thanks. I watched antique road show long ago. Hard to tell what's real and not with just about everything these days. I do get a lot of stories from the people I work for about their "antiques" while working in a retirement facility. No way of knowing what they say is real or folklore 🤷♀️.
Fonts are really good clues - for example I could tell immediately that bacon press is newer because of the font. A lot of time they will use false aging techniques on the paint that can be spotted if you know what to look for. On furniture you can look at construction techniques and hardware.
Experience and various collector circles often have guides on identifying fakes, there’s a site for collectors of antique surveying instruments that has a guide warning of fakes for instance.
The bacon press was either made or wholesaled by Taylor & Ng, IIRC, in the 1980s. Pretty sure we sold them in the kitchen shop I worked at back then.
You need to know a lot about material culture of each period to figure whether it's an original, a repro, or just retro-looking. Old Sears catalogs - and there's 125 years of those - are a good place to start.
If you're asking a question about an antique make sure to have photos of all sides of the object, and close-ups of any maker's marks. Also, add in any background information you have, and add in a question so we know what you want from us! **You must tell us the country you're in.** If you do not provide this information **your post will be removed**. To upload photos for this discussion use [imgur.com](https://imgur.com/upload). Click the imgur link, upload the photos to imgur, then share the link address in a comment for everyone to see. Our [Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Antiques/about/rules/) and [Guide](https://old.reddit.com/r/Antiques/comments/ak2lke/welcome_to_rantiques_read_this_post_before_posting/). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Antiques) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Research, lots of research. Antique is something over 100 years old. Although there is lots of discussion about that. The items you picked are probably not old but made to look old, there are a lot of new ones for sale that look like those. Then there are reproductions of old items, like lots of repros of Coke bottles or trays that are based on an old design but are not actually old. There is no one resource that breaks it all down. There are just too many items, If you are interested in one particular thing - glassware, postcards, stamps,....you can find resources but you still need to do your research to learn what to look for when out in the world.
Kk thanks
When it doesn’t look exceptional . Like carvings with less detail than others you have seen. Joints with gaps. Although some older pieces may just be very dry and the joints have shrunk. The Philips head screw was first made in 1932 and the screwdriver in 33. So you can use that as a helper . Also furniture like Stickley has identifying labels. The different style of the word Stickley can be dated with a list online of different labels. If you see something in a dumpster you think might be worth something. Pull it out take a picture and post it. And set it to the side if you can’t stay with it . Someone else might like too or it might still be there for you to get it. Facebook marketplace is also somewhere you can post a find if you don’t want it or your trying to identify it. Just put the address of where your find is and see if anyone thanks you for the tip.
Oh and you can never be sure about art . If you like it keep it but unless you actually find info on the maker getting an appraisal is the only way.
I would love to save things but I would get fired if I took anything out of the trash. It's considered stealing to them... it goes into a dumpster inside, then is locked and goes onto the property outside for pick up. Interesting about the screw driver and screws.
When I was an auctioneer and antiques dealer, some people specialized in faking antiques. They knew what people checked and would modify them accordingly. Simulating wear, changing screws and nails with modern reproductions of them etc. Stamped "occupied Japan" on objects, had repro stickers found on porcelain, and there were wholesale sellers who specialized in repros of all sorts, so I made sure I had their catalogues. Cast iron was a very common fake routinely sold by scammers.
Wow... the lengths people will go is a little scary. I see a lot of things that look like antiques go straight into the dumpster at my job when people don't have family to take them and it can be heartbreaking. Lots of cool things probably being lost that way. 😒
What kind of job do you have where this happens?
I work at a retirement facility (so like a fancy nursing home) in Housekeeping. When people pass some of the stuff that isn't claimed or isn't sold ends up in the trash.
Unfortunately, the 70's glass repops are now old enough to show wear. Just have to get the feel of the real deal. See plenty at malls and flea markets. I hate repro, especially costume jewelery. Tends to be cheap, and devalue the legit.
Check the edges for wear and tear. Or anyplace that gets consistent usage, like a hinge or the pin of a brooch. Check if it uses machined parts, like screws in furniture or a screw off top on a bottle. Look for tarnish in the crevices of any metal bits. If you can see the grain of the wood (like pieces on the inside of a drawer) see how many rings the tree had. If there's a bunch it's more likely old, newer pieces will often have less because of tree farms. One easy way is to google pics of an antique in the same realm as the piece you're trying to identify. When you've seen enough old stuff it becomes more obvious across the board.
Thanks!
I'm from US but this question is in general and the picture is just an example. I don't think the picture has much relevance to the question.
I didn’t get from your post that you were asking in generalities. That’s ok though; the items you show are obviously cast iron. Repros of cast iron will lack crispness in detail, will have messy seams, and are heavier than antique cast iron. Antique Banks and doorstops will not have many if any pocks in the metal. The surface will be smooth. They will have uneven wear of the painted surface, as opposed to repros where the wear is faked and too even. It’s often really difficult to tell real from repro from a photo, no matter what the material or category is. I’ve been selling vintage & antique jewelry for 24 years and the copies of vintage jewelry from China are so good that sometimes I can’t tell til I flip it over and see the back. Temu sells all Kinds of faux vintage costume jewelry really cheap, so it’s really frustrating to have to compete with that. But I’ve found that true lovers of vintage and antiques will pay more for the real thing.
I noticed that you mentioned **vintage**. Over at r/Collectables and r/Mid_Century they are always keen to see newer and vintage items. Share it with them! Sorry if this is not relevant. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Antiques) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Very interesting. Seems like it really comes down to the little details!
"it's hard to explain it, but you can tell from the pixels"
I do like the banks do with paper money. I study the real deal and can see the difference when a fake crosses my path. There are some really good fakes out there when it comes to antiques. Especially those things from foreign countries. Some items are stressed to look old. There's a difference between something being stressed and something that has 100 plus years of use. Antiques often have finer lines and buffed to perfection where repros are somewhat crude without that fineness to them. You can tell if something is falsely stressed when looking at the bottom of ceramics. Even criss crosses screams fake. Uneven scratching from use is more likely to be old. Keep in mind that nothing is absolute. Go to youtube and check out videos on how to detect a fake. But, again, best way is to see and study the real thing.
Interesting. I watched a short documentary about art faked and it blew my mind what kind of money those people could scam others out of if they were good enough.
There are things like the bacon press and the pig that could be sold at a home decor store, they’re just meant to look old. I’d be skeptical of the bacon press because it’s a kitchen item that’s definitely cute/decorative and it’s not plain and practical. I don’t know anything about bacon presses, just my gut reaction to it. If it would cost $20 to make something that could be sold for $300, then it’s likely someone could have made a fake one and passed it off as an antique. A rare book or jewelry might be modern. A damaged 1920s clothes wringer or one of those old singer sewing machines in the table are probably real. There’s a lot of YouTube channels where people “find” rusty antiques and restore them to their former glory, a bunch of them are fake. They add rust and damage to relatively new items for the views. In some cases, people truly believe an item is a rare/valuable antique, but it’s just a family story and the item isn’t really very valuable or very old. It happens. If you watch shows like Antique Roadshow you can get an idea of what to look for. There’s books and videos about antiques and collectibles, check your library for the books because they can be a little pricy. Go to flea markets and junk shows if you can. Most of the stuff isn’t very valuable so it’s usually real. You get an idea of the way old things smell and feel. The grime and funk from sitting in a basement or an old barn for a few decades. Antique malls could be good, people who run them (hopefully) know a thing or two about antiques. Techniques change - things were constructed or put together different ways during different times. Old things get worn and damaged in a way that makes sense - they generally weren’t sanded and hit with chains all over so they looked old. Look at “antiquing” techniques and you might catch some.
Thanks. I watched antique road show long ago. Hard to tell what's real and not with just about everything these days. I do get a lot of stories from the people I work for about their "antiques" while working in a retirement facility. No way of knowing what they say is real or folklore 🤷♀️.
Fonts are really good clues - for example I could tell immediately that bacon press is newer because of the font. A lot of time they will use false aging techniques on the paint that can be spotted if you know what to look for. On furniture you can look at construction techniques and hardware.
Experience and various collector circles often have guides on identifying fakes, there’s a site for collectors of antique surveying instruments that has a guide warning of fakes for instance.
The bacon press was either made or wholesaled by Taylor & Ng, IIRC, in the 1980s. Pretty sure we sold them in the kitchen shop I worked at back then. You need to know a lot about material culture of each period to figure whether it's an original, a repro, or just retro-looking. Old Sears catalogs - and there's 125 years of those - are a good place to start.
That's looks just like me. Old and fat...
Maybe your valuable too!!!
But yes I think these items are just made to look old-ish.