Antique Porcelain Buyer
Antique porcelain comes in a wide range of styles, colors, patterns, uses and most importantly quality. Perhaps your antique porcelain piece has been in your family for generations, or maybe you just picked up a likely looking piece at an estate sale or flea market. Whatever the case, if you’re wondering what it is worth, you’ve come to the right place. We offer our clients in-home evaluations to help you sort the “wheat from the chaff.”
Syl-Lee Antiques is a reputable New York City antique company. We deal in old art, decor, jewelry and more. We specialize in pricing and buying valuable wares such as antique porcelain. We excel at telling the difference between poor quality and fake porcelain and truly masterful pieces, which are formed from clay fired temperatures high enough to turn some of its components to glass. This is what gives real porcelain its ethereal translucence and elegant heft.
Identifying Quality Porcelain
Porcelain is made in a variety of different ways and from myriad clay types, but true antique porcelain pieces share several characteristics. For one thing, they are not porous, which means that when liquid is poured in or on them, they do not soak it up as, for instance, a terra cotta pot might. For another, they are generally white, but may be colored on the outside. Thirdly, porcelain usually has a translucent quality, even if it is quite thick. While it is not completely transparent, like many types of glass, it should allow a good deal of light to penetrate.
True antiques often have the maker’s mark and date on the bottom, though this isn’t always the case. Real porcelain artifacts may hail from China, Europe, America or other places; the deciding factor in its authenticity is the process rather than the place of manufacture. We buy antique Sevres, Meissen, Royal Vienna, KPM (Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur), as well as antique vases and antique pottery of other origins.
We also buy certain types of antique porcelain dinnerware. Some china patterns we look to purchase include Royal Copenhagen “Flora Danica”, Royal Copenhagen “Blue Fluted Full Lace”, Royal Crown Derby “Old Imari”, Herend “Chinese Bouquet” and Herend “Rothschild Bird”. Although full dish sets are ideal, we also buy individual antique pieces. Large platters, pitchers, tea pots and centerpieces are often purchased by themselves. If you have dishes that don’t have one of the names we listed don’t worry. We buy other dinnerware as well. Contact us any time to see if we deal in your fine porcelain.
Get an In-home antique porcelain evaluation
If you have an antique porcelain piece that you think we might be interested in, or simply want to know its worth, don’t hesitate to give us a call. At Syl-Lee Antiques we can help guide you through the evaluation, sales and removal of your prized treasures. If you live in the New York City or Long Island areas we offer free house-calls. We would be happy to set up an appointment to get your antique porcelain or other treasures evaluated. If you decide to sell us your items we will buy them for cash on the spot. If you wish to hold on to your items, that’s fine too. You are under no obligation to sell.
In addition to porcelain, we also provide evaluations of antique paintings, drawings, jewelry, gold, clocks, furniture, coins, cameos, flatware, art glass, dinnerware and much more.
What’s Next? Call us or email us at any time to set up at appointment. If you like, you may send photos to contact@syl-leeantiques.com.