Antique & collectible terms
Common terms like bone china, flow blue, folk art, lithophane and moriage.
Common terms like bone china, flow blue, folk art, lithophane and moriage.
Flow blue is a style of porcelain that originated in the 1820s among the Staffordshire potters of England. The name is derived from the blue glaze that blurred or "flowed" during the firing process. Most flow blue ware is a kind of transferware. The decorative patterns were applied with a paper stencil to glazed blanks, or standard pottery shapes. The stencils then burned away in the kiln.
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Folk Art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture, peasants or other laboring trades people. Antique folk art is distinguished from traditional art in that while it is collected today based mostly on its artistic merit; it was never produced as a category to be art. Examples include: weathervanes, old store signs, carved figures, carousel horses, and hand made fire buckets.
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Jasperware or jasper ware, is a type of stoneware first developed by Josiah Wedgwood. It is noted for its matte finish and is produced in a number of different colors, of which the best known is a pale blue that has become known as "Wedgwood Blue". The term "jasper" (in Jasperware) is derived from an opaque crypto-crystalline variety of quartz. |
Repoussé is a metalworking technique in which a malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side. It is also known as embossing. Chasing is the opposite technique to repoussé, and the two are used in conjunction to create a finished piece. The term chasing is derived from the noun "chase", which refers to a groove, channel or indentation.
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Swastikas date back to ancient civilizations, they remain widely used in Eastern religions like Buddhism. Swastikas were also used by the Navajo & Hopi tribes until WWII as a sign of good luck. The swastika symbol has since been outlawed in Germany. Look for items that have non German and/or pre-WWII swastikas on them. |
Uranium Glass or Vaseline glass is a glass once made into tableware and household items, which has had uranium oxide added to it prior to melting to obtain the unique green color. The proportion usually varies from trace levels to about 25% by weight uranium in some 19th-century pieces. Uranium glass turns neon green when exposed to ultraviolet light.
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U.S. Zone is similar to items marked Occupied Japan. Items were marked “U.S. Zone” Germany after the Allied powers defeated Germany in World War II then divided the country for administrative purposes during 1945–49. The American zone consisted of Bavaria and Hesse in Southern Germany, and some areas to the north.
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