Ceramics appear everywhere—thrift stores, estate sales, antique shops, flea markets, and home collections. Some pieces are handcrafted studio art worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. Others are mass-produced décor items worth only a few dollars. Since both categories can look similar to beginners, valuable studio pottery is often overlooked or thrown away.
DJR Expert Guide Series, Vol. 589 provides a complete, beginner-friendly, non-destructive workflow for determining whether a ceramic piece was handmade by an artist or produced in a factory. This guide explains how to evaluate construction, glazes, bases, signatures, firing traits, and overall craftsmanship using the same observational cues trusted by professional appraisers.
Inside this guide, you’ll learn how experts:
Distinguish handmade studio ceramics from mold-made commercial pieces
Read the base for clues: wheel marks, trimming, signatures, stamps, or mold seams
Evaluate glaze traits such as layering, drips, pooling, and natural variation
Identify mass-produced glazes through uniformity and repeated patterns
Examine construction details including wall thickness, form irregularities, and firing clues
Interpret artist signatures, chop marks, studio stamps, initials, and monograms
Recognize decorative methods such as carving, sgraffito, brushwork, slip-trailing, and decals
Identify specialty processes like raku, wood-firing, salt-glazing, and why they signal studio craftsmanship
Spot décor-store replicas designed to imitate handmade pottery
Understand traits associated with higher-value studio ceramics
Sort ceramics efficiently during estate or thrift-store searches
Know when to seek professional appraisal
Whether you're evaluating thrift-store finds, sorting estate items, or researching pieces from your own collection, this guide provides the full expert workflow needed to distinguish studio art pottery from mass-produced ceramics—quickly, confidently, and without damaging the piece.
Digital Download — PDF • 8 Pages • Instant Access
Ceramics appear everywhere—thrift stores, estate sales, antique shops, flea markets, and home collections. Some pieces are handcrafted studio art worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. Others are mass-produced décor items worth only a few dollars. Since both categories can look similar to beginners, valuable studio pottery is often overlooked or thrown away.
DJR Expert Guide Series, Vol. 589 provides a complete, beginner-friendly, non-destructive workflow for determining whether a ceramic piece was handmade by an artist or produced in a factory. This guide explains how to evaluate construction, glazes, bases, signatures, firing traits, and overall craftsmanship using the same observational cues trusted by professional appraisers.
Inside this guide, you’ll learn how experts:
Distinguish handmade studio ceramics from mold-made commercial pieces
Read the base for clues: wheel marks, trimming, signatures, stamps, or mold seams
Evaluate glaze traits such as layering, drips, pooling, and natural variation
Identify mass-produced glazes through uniformity and repeated patterns
Examine construction details including wall thickness, form irregularities, and firing clues
Interpret artist signatures, chop marks, studio stamps, initials, and monograms
Recognize decorative methods such as carving, sgraffito, brushwork, slip-trailing, and decals
Identify specialty processes like raku, wood-firing, salt-glazing, and why they signal studio craftsmanship
Spot décor-store replicas designed to imitate handmade pottery
Understand traits associated with higher-value studio ceramics
Sort ceramics efficiently during estate or thrift-store searches
Know when to seek professional appraisal
Whether you're evaluating thrift-store finds, sorting estate items, or researching pieces from your own collection, this guide provides the full expert workflow needed to distinguish studio art pottery from mass-produced ceramics—quickly, confidently, and without damaging the piece.
Digital Download — PDF • 8 Pages • Instant Access
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