Starter guide
Collect small sculpture: porcelain people, pottery animals and the stories on their bases.
There is probably a figurine in your family already: a porcelain shepherdess on a grandparent's mantel, a china dog, a row of tiny animals from a tea box. Figurine collecting is choosing a theme (one maker, one subject such as horses or dancers, one era) and hunting for pieces that fit it at thrift stores, estate sales, antique malls and online auctions. Each one is a small sculpture that a sculptor modeled and a painter finished by hand, and the mark under its base usually names the factory and narrows the decade. Prices for most 20th-century figurines have fallen a long way from what they cost new, so a beginner can buy good pieces for $5 to $40 and learn on the real thing.
Most of the hobby happens in two places. Out hunting, you spend an hour or two walking an antique mall, a flea market or the shelves of a thrift store, picking pieces up by the base and turning them over to read the marks. At home you look up what you found, dust it, log it and decide where it stands. The collectors who enjoy it longest set a theme early, because figurines were made by the million and a shelf of unrelated ones reads as clutter. Ten pieces that share a maker or a subject read as a collection, and the theme tells you what to walk past.
Six directions, one kit
Start here
Look at the base of any child figure you find for a bee, a letter V or a crown, and sketch the mark exactly. Then compare it with a trademark chart to see which decade it was made in.
Start here
Find the painted number on the base of a lady or character figure and look it up in the model list. The list gives the title, the designer and the years it was made.
Start here
Read up on the blue flower mark and when it came into use. Then handle a few pieces at an antique mall and count the fingers and flower petals on each, since those break first.
Start here
Check the small-items case or the dollar basket at two thrift stores for inch-high glazed animals. Pick one series to complete and write down which animals you still need.
Start here
Pick up a common piece at a thrift store for a few dollars, find the small symbol on the base and look up which year it stands for.
Start here
Read about how these figures were made before you spend anything. Then ask a dealer at an antique mall to show you an old one and a reproduction side by side.
Open a direction to see its first step. All six use the same kit.
Read this before you buy an antique pottery figure
Ten steps, the first two free
The parts that stick out
Fingers, noses, ears, hat brims, flower petals and tails take the damage. Count the fingers and run a fingertip lightly over every edge, since a chip is easier to feel than to see.
Repairs
Look at the neck, wrists and ankles for a faint line, a patch where the gloss changes, or paint that does not quite match. Under a 10x loupe, repainted areas show brush marks that sit on top of the glaze.
The ultraviolet test
In a dim corner, shine a UV flashlight over the piece. Modern glue and touch-up paint usually glow a different color from the old glaze around them.
Crazing
A fine web of cracks in the glaze, often with brown in the lines. It is part of the piece for good, and collectors pay less for it on porcelain.
The base
Read every mark, number and word. A mark that has been scratched through or ground away often means the factory sold the piece as a second.
The modeling
Compare the face with a photo of a known good example on your phone. Sharp eyelids, separate fingers and neat painting point to an early cast from a fresh mold, while soft detail and sloppy color point to a late cast or a copy.
Marks are the first thing to learn, and a marks dictionary (online or in print) will place most factory-made pieces in a country and a date range. Museum collection sites show the best examples of each type with full descriptions, which trains your eye for sharp modeling and good painting. In person, dealers at antique malls and auction previews will often let you handle pieces and will point out a repair if you ask. Many makers also have collector clubs with newsletters and yearly conventions, worth joining once you have settled on a theme.
A museum catalog, a marks dictionary and a model list
The first line is the figurine itself, which you find in person. The loupe and the UV flashlight are for checking a piece before you pay, since marks and repairs decide the price. The wax and the brush are what a figurine needs once it is home: something to keep it standing and a safe way to dust it. The marks book, the risers and the cabinet can all wait until you have a theme and more pieces than one shelf row holds.
The first line is your first figurine, which you find in person and do not buy online. For the rest, compare the options on each line, then set your tiers and check out from the cart. Clicking a card selects it there. The loupe, the UV flashlight, the wax and the brush start in the kit. The marks book, the risers and the cabinet are there for later.
A collection starts with one piece you have picked up and checked yourself. Handling it teaches weight, glaze and marks faster than any photo.
Not sold on Amazon
Not sold on Amazon. Look in thrift stores, estate sales, flea markets, antique malls and online auctions. Common 20th-century pieces in good condition run $3 to $40. Pay more only when you know the mark and have checked for repairs.
Base marks are often tiny, faint or half worn away, and repairs hide in the glaze. Ten-power magnification makes both readable in a dim shop.
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A triplet lens stays sharp to the edge. Hold the loupe close to your eye and bring the figurine up to it until the mark snaps into focus.
A reglued arm or a repainted chip can be invisible in shop lighting. Under ultraviolet light, modern glue and paint usually glow differently from the original glaze.
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Choose 365nm over the more common 395nm, which gives off so much visible purple that faint repairs are hard to see. Use it in the dimmest corner you can find and never shine it toward anyone's eyes.
Figurines are top-heavy and stand on small bases, so a bumped shelf or a curious cat tips them over. A dab of removable wax under the base holds each one in place.
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Putty suits most bases and shelves. Clear gel disappears on glass shelves, and wax holds best on wood. One small pack secures dozens of pieces.
Dust settles into every fold and petal, and a cloth snags on the thin parts. A soft brush lifts it out without catching.
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Redecker Goat Hair Book Dust Brush with Oiled Pearwood Handle, 10-1/4-Inches
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Keep it for figurines only, so it never picks up grease or grit from other jobs.
Free online lookups stall when a mark is only a symbol or a pair of initials. A printed marks dictionary sorts marks by shape, so you can find one you cannot put into words.
Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain, 1850 to the Present
4.6(355)
$14.65
Kovels' Dictionary of Marks: Pottery And Porcelain, 1650 to 1850
4.6(94)
$18.00
Miller's Pocket Fact File: Pottery & Porcelain Marks: Including a Comprehensive Guide to Artists, Makers, Factories and Forms
4.4(81)
$18.95
Older editions cost less and the marks in them have not changed.
Once a shelf holds two rows, the back row disappears behind the front one. Clear steps lift it into view without adding a second shelf.
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Measure the shelf depth first. Wax each figurine to the riser the same way you would to the shelf.
On an open shelf, a growing collection means more dusting and more chances to knock a piece. A cabinet with glass doors keeps out dust, sleeves and pets.
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Wait until you have a dozen or more pieces. Check the weight limit of each shelf and anchor a tall cabinet to the wall.
