I wanted to list an item on Wifey’s Ebay site, but could barely read the mark on the back of a decorative plate. Shown photo enhanced is a factory mark I did not reconize. I turned to our book shelves for help.

Our library of antiquing books contains two volumes that get lots of attention with wifey’s antique business. The one we have had the longest is “Kovel’s New Dictionary of Marks.” Published in 1986, it’s from Crown Publishers. Inc of New York by Ralph and Terry Kovel. It covers the world of ceramic companies.

The second, a newer book, acquired just a few years ago, is “U.S. Marks on Pottery, Porcelain and Clay” by Lois Lehner, published by Collectors Books a division of Schroeder Publishing Inc. © 1988.

Since neither book contains prices, they provide a wealth of information without losing their usefulness with age.

The Kovel book has an interesting arrangement for finding and identifying marks, especially when blurred, partial or faded. The layout of the pages are by the actual major design element of the maker’s mark in alphabetical order – Animals, Arrows, Banners, Birds, Cartouche, etc.

In the boxed section containing the logo is a small synopsis of the company essentials, the factory name, locations, dates the mark was used, successor companies, and years the factory was in production.  Here I found the information I was looking for.

Back pages titled “The Vocabulary of Marks” list the dates country names were first included on the pieces, the meaning of words found in marks, dating systems listed by company, and factory’s family trees.

Lehner’s Encyclopedia of U.S. Marks is the “War & Peace” of antiquing books. Containing 634 pages, it’s arranged alphabetically by factory name. In the back are definitions used in the book, lists of various types of manufacturers, railroad letters and symbols used on diner car china plus electrical porcelain insulator markings.

Each company listed contains a great deal of detailed information on the founders, locations, dates, products and general history of the factories along with examples of the various iterations of the marks used.

The importance of identifying the marks and knowing the history are two-fold, first is having a key word or “tag” to include with wifey’s on-line antique listings, that steer searchers to her Ebay site.

Secondly, age and obscurity drive the passion of many collectors, and knowing the history and longevity of a particular mark’s usage, adds validity to your purchase price.

One other book in our library is this recent addition titled “Antique Trader, Pottery & Porcelain Ceramics, by Kyle Hosfloen, published by Krause Publications in 2006 and listed as its 5^th edition.

While on the same general subject as the other books, it is first and foremost a price guide and includes dolls, figurines, cookie jars and lamps among the more common shapes and functions of typical pottery. Filled with color photos in 768 pages, this book also includes a small glossary on the back pages.

Alphabetically arranged, mixing categories with manufacturers, this book also contains histories of items and companies throughout, so when looking up examples of children’s ABC plates, we first learn they were popular at the turn of the last century, often incorporating the alphabet on the rim and scenes or rhymes at center. Other reference books are suggested for the serious collector throughout. The ABC section is followed by the manufacturer Abingdon, and so on. 

We find this book’s usefulness in the information sections provided, the introduction to each entry and the quality of the pictures, along with the relationship between prices of like item you might see in a retail setting. Since antique and collectible values can change in either direction and have contracted in recent years, the use of any guide should be verified with recent sales on sites like Ebay or Tias.com.

On the way home from the post office, I cut The Wifey off in mid sentence: “Look!” I gesture wildly, probably swerving slightly on Roberts Street. “Bricks!” The Idlekope building has sat on that corner since 1914 – it’s the one with the billboards in this movie I own — and it’s been one bookstore or another as long as I can remember. The landlord benefiting from revitalization tax breaks, the bookstore was evicted for renovation so the first North Dakota upscale jogging supply store (yes, really) could move in. The first-floor windows visible in the movie had been bricked over since the 1950s, but they are now open to the outside again. Some scrap bricks were piled on the south side of the building, near the train tracks.

Wifey gave me a look. She knew my intention was to go down there, after dark, and take a brick or two…and she’ll most likely be recruited to help. My most favorite building in Fargo, the one I worked in for 5 years, has been receiving renovations as well. One or two nights after the steam-heat power plant was knocked down, Wifey and I snuck down and grabbed two bricks that had fallen into the alley (no jumping of fences required) and brought them home so I could possess a little part of the building.

Thus starts my historical brick collection. As it turns out, I’m not the only one who finds history in bricks collectible and desirable. Numerous museums and private collectors have brick collections, many revolving around the historical aspect of the building material.

Brick has been a common building material for hundreds — thousands — of years, the result of high-temperature curing of clay or other stoneware medium. Enough bricks to build a downtown building weigh several tons…which, in the early-twentieth-century time that Idelkope commissioned this building, was a cumbersome product that could be ordered from a distant company, but much more cost-effective obtained locally. Brickmaking was a regional industry in nearly every community, and brickmakers teetered on the border between basic manufacturing and artisan trade. Each area’s bricks had a quality of their own due to the home-grown materials and the composition mixed into the clay to produce a strong, hard brick.

What collectors desire, of course, is the ’stamp’ of the brickmaker’s company. Placed on a hidden face of the brick, the stamp both advertised the company, but also gave a different surface for the mortar to bind to. Collectors, like Dan Mosier’s thorough collection of California bricks, revolve around a certain state or region’s brick manufacturer. Frank and Jane Clement’s collection starts in New York state, but spreads to rare and obscure bricks, such as Abe Lincoln bricks and bricks made by slave labor. While some brickmaker’s wares, like Purington Pavers, traveled far and wide, most bricks didn’t wander far. These bricks are often found in recent demolition sites, like the unmarked bricks I picked up here in Fargo. A lot of bricks don’t survive demolition, but the sheer number means many should separate from the mortar without cracking. Brick material is extremely strong, lasting hundreds of years without fail, and often survives a collapsing wall. As you might guess, storage seems to be the most serious aspect of their collection. Take a book or record album collection (two of the heaviest and largest collections I know of), and scale each item up to 8″ long and ten pounds each. However, if bricks are your passion, I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it work…little stops a dedicated collector.

I’ll probably continue borrowing Downtown Fargo a couple bricks at a time. I doubt I’ll ever have enough to build anything, but it gives me something more than a postcard or photo to own part of our local historic buildings that have been pulled apart for renovation or burned down for no good reason. Each collection has a life of its own; mine involves sneaking in the dark, looking for cast-offs. You collect things your way, I’ll stick with mine.

When I first learned of the hobby of marble collectingI was surprised – I had no idea that a marble could be a collector’s item. How could one even tell them apart, I wondered. A passionate collector and dealer of marbles informed me, though, that there are indeed differences among marbles and the challenge of learning to recognize the different types of marbles is part of the fun of collecting them.

A form of marbles were around in ancient Rome, but it was in Venice in the 1700s that the glass marbles we are familiar with today were first developed. While it’s usually glass marbles that are collected, antique porcelain and clay marbles can be a valuable addition to a collection as well.

There are several books and online guides available to help a novice marble collector to tell the marbles apart (see the links below). Learning to identify marbles can be difficult, and it generally takes a good amount of study to be able to discern the small differences in patterns and colors between marbles. It is well worth the effort, however. Marble collecting is an area where a well-prepared, knowledgeable collector can find rare items for pennies. Quite often collectibles dealers who don’t specialize in marbles will fill a large plastic baggie with marbles and sell it for a couple of dollars, and it’s not unusual to discover a valuable marble in among the worthless ones.

Because marbles are made of glass, they are easy to damaged and should be stored carefully. Keeping collectible marbles bundled up together in a bag or jar can lead to scratches and chipping, which will significantly decrease the value of the marbles. There are special storage/display cases with a separate compartment for each marble, or simply wrapping each marble individually before storing will do the trick.

Related Links:

Land of Marbles identification guide

Alan’s Marble Collection identification guide

Here’s a list of guidelines for buying marbles online