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How to Identify Antique Lace

Lace can add beautiful and feminine touches to a garment or to parts of your home. Antique lace, too, can be fairly easy to come by in thrift stores, vintage clothing shops and antique stores, but it is also important to know exactly what it takes to identify antique lace. There may even be some in your closet or mixed in with some new lace. By knowing a few simple things, you can know the age of your lace.

Instructions

- 1
  Checking out books on antique lace is a great place to start. Books can contain a wealth of information and will allow you to compare your own lace to the pictures in the books.
- 2
  Examine your lace to determine whether the stitches are closer together or farther apart. Observe the pattern and design.
- 3
  Look at how the lace was constructed and whether the lace appears to be machine made or handmade. You can tell based on the flaws of the design.
- 4
  Take the lace to an antiques appraiser. Antiques appraisers are specially trained to know exactly the quality and intricacies of lace. They can best give you an estimate of what your lace is worth as well as a bit of its history.

Other Collecting