Hobbies And Interests
Desirable Manufacturers
Antique and vintage pottery made by certain manufacturers, like Roseville Pottery of Zanesville, Ohio, is highly sought after by collectors. Many of Roseville's earliest patterns are hard to come by without cracks and other damage. Therefore, collectors will pay high prices for certain pattern pieces, even if damaged or repaired. Unfortunately, many reproduction pieces have been introduced into the market, so care must be taken not to purchase a damaged reproduction that does not have the value of a real piece in any condition.
Rare Items
A piece of vintage or antique pottery that is one-of-a-kind, or part of a rare set, might command top dollar from a collector even with cracks or other flaws. He may have no other choice for one-of-a-kind items. If the pottery item is hard to come by, it could take months or years for another one to come on the market. Usually, the collector will opt to buy the available piece, hoping to trade up for a better one in the future.
Archeological Finds
Worldwide archaeological digs constantly unearth broken bits of pottery from dishes, cups, plates and vessels indigenous to local cultures. For example, they are still finding fragments of pottery and other artifacts at sites in Boston, Massachusetts, from colonial times and at sunken shipwreck sites. Pieces of pottery from sites like these command high prices among collectors because of their historical and cultural significance.
Ancient Relics
It is very rare to find intact pottery over 1,000 years old. Therefore, museums and collectors of pottery relics from antiquity place high values on even incomplete pieces of these items. For example, ancient Greek, Roman and Chinese pottery is often considered priceless. These ancient relics are mainly housed in museum collections worldwide. Unfortunately, there is also a lucrative black market in stolen ancient pottery and other artifacts.