Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Clean the pottery piece to be tested with warm, soapy water, using mild detergent. Rinse thoroughly. Do not let the pottery piece soak in any water for more than a few seconds. Allow to dry completely. Once the pottery is free of dust and dirt, it is ready to be properly inspected with a black light.
Bring the piece of pottery and a handheld long-wave black light to a dark room in your house, preferably an interior room with no windows. The black light will give the best results in a room without natural light. At the very least, place the piece of pottery carefully on the floor of a dark closet before subjecting it to a black light inspection.
Turn on the black light and hold it close to the pottery to be inspected. If it is a tea cup, shine the black light inside and outside. If you are inspecting the pottery piece for repairs, go to step 4. Antique hard paste porcelain will have a purple or royal blue fluorescence. Antique soft paste porcelain will have a white fluorescence. If an alleged 18th-century soft paste piece of porcelain does not have a distinct white fluorescence, it probably is a modern reproduction or fake.
Look for any color variations in fluorescence as you shine the black light around the pottery piece. Color variations signal repairs on the piece. This is because both adhesives and modern paints fluoresce under a black light. They will fluoresce differently than the fluorescence given off by the pottery piece itself.