Choosing porcelain and pottery with care

For all those who collect or would like to collect porcelain and pottery there are a few rules that must be followed to make sure your purchase is a happy event and not a sad one. First of all one must always collect only perfect specimens, there is no future in collecting items with flaws no matter how nice you might think they are. A good collection is a perfect collection. It does not matter what you pay for the item, if it has damage then it will never be worth anything. You will here people say that it is a rare item and a very old item there fore you have to expect a little damage, for some this may be acceptable but I would rather think that there is a perfect one out there and in time I will come across it, just expect to pay double and then some for a perfect example which that in its self should show you what is really thought of damaged items. Keep your money in your pocket and seek out only perfection and you will be rewarded in many ways, not only in future resales but in the knowledge that you own a collection that is flawless, something other people will be truely impressed about. When buying over the internet where you cannot hold the item and feel it then make sure you ask a hundred questions of the seller, are they sure there are no chips, even flea bites, (some sellers wont mention flea bites as they think they are manufacturers flaws and this is acceptalble). Flea bites are a flaw and will affect value, especially to the purist. Although items do turn up with genuine manufacturing flaws you should really keep away from them to, there will be other pieces that do not carry such flaws. Ask the seller to run any porcelain under water and see if any hairlines show up, ( this is a quick way of finding hairlines that at times are near invisible). Ask does the cup ring like a bell when tapped, another way of finding cracks. Also ask about crispness of decoration, is the paint work sharp and bright or is it faded, if it is faded then it is best to leave it and find something that is better. One of the best tools a collector of porcelain can own is a black light, these show up repairs that are not necessarily visible to the naked eye. Repairers of porcelain are getting so good that without the intervention of such toolsone would not find the repair. This is not to say that those who repair porcelain go out of there way to con people, actually you willfind that those who repair and resell always alert one to the repair, but with the price of some pieces of porcelain one can see why some people will go to extreme lengths to sell repaired or even fake pieces without disclosing such. What it all comes down to is ask heaps of questions and if you do not get the right answers do not buy. If you do buy go over the piece with a fine tooth comb and use the above mentioned to help locate any faults if any.And always remember to buy quality, never compromise. It may take longer to put that collection together and maybe cost a bit more or maybe you end up with a few less pieces but when you look at it in all its pure, unblemished glory you will see that you have done the right thing. The feeling of owning a collection of such a high standing is just the best. Hope this helps those who would collect, cheers didjanoim2PS: Always be on the look out for reproductions, re-released patterns and styles and down right illegal fakes. PS: PS: I have noticed in a few item descriptions where people are discribing star cracks in the bottom of Vases etc and a lot say that at some time it has been put down heavily. This may be so but the biggest cause for star cracks is people dropping car keys etc into them as a safe place. Just be careful if this is one of your habits, you could end up with the same and wonder why. Cheers all.