Dresden porcelain: German excellence
Dresden porcelain is recognized in the antiques industry as the hallmark of good taste and fine German porcelain manufacturing. German hard-paste porcelain was produced in the Meissen factory, so Dresden is also known as Meissen, and it began very early, in 1710 in...
Exploring history of the phonograph
The year was 1857 and French inventor, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville, invented the first “sound” machine that future inventors would take ideas from and expand upon for better machines. Scott de Martinville invented something called the phonautograph, which...
Evaluating antiques using UV light
Ultraviolet light, or UV, also known as “black lights” are used to evaluate the hidden world of antiques. Materials fluoresce under UV lighting, producing light that the human eye cannot see, making the unseen seen. One can tell age, repairs jobs, authenticity and...
How to identify wood types
You come across a beautiful table out in an antique store. It has a nice, dark hue to it, and it matches your chairs perfectly, but what type of wood is it? How do you determine how much it is worth and if it is even real wood? There are many ways to look at a piece...
Motion Lamps
(Editor’s note: DeeDee Wood is the store manager at Tharpe Antiques, in Easton, part of the Talbot Historical Society.) Motion lamps are revolving lamps that have an animated scene going around the shade as the lamp rotates. They were novelties that drew in your...
A history of chandeliers
(Editor’s note: DeeDee Wood is the store manager at Tharpe Antiques, in Easton, part of the Talbot Historical Society.) The word chandelier comes from the Latin/French word “candelabru,” which means candelabra, or a place for candles, in English. Opulence and elegance...
Tibetan Buddhist Thangkas
(Editor’s note: DeeDee Wood is the store manager at Tharpe Antiques, in Easton, part of the Talbot Historical Society.) A Tibetan thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting, usually painted upon silk or cotton. It depicts a Buddhist deity, mandala or a scene, and is used...
Clara Driscoll and the ‘Tiffany girls’
(Editor’s note: DeeDee Wood is the store manager at Tharpe Antiques, in Easton, part of the Talbot Historical Society.) Clara Driscoll designed most of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s famous lampshades, including the Dragonfly, Wisteria and others. She worked for Louis...
History rings a bell
By DeeDee Wood (Editor’s note: DeeDee Wood is the store manager at Tharpe Antiques, in Easton, part of the Talbot Historical Society.) The earliest evidence archaeologically for bells dates back to Northern China from the 3,000 BC. Bells were used to produce harmonics...
Doing it Rococo style
by DeeDee Wood What is Rococo Style? How did it influence furnishings and decorative art? Style usually is influenced by the history and tastes of a region, and Rococo is decidedly French, branching out to other countries as it left its mark. Rococo was an 18th...
