In this section, you will see useful online databases, recommended books, and ‘how to’ guides for anyone trying to identify or value their Art or Antiquity.

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Reference Books & Directories

Old school, maybe, but Books remain some of the most reliable tools for art and antiques research, offering depth, context, and trusted scholarship. They provide the background knowledge needed to interpret catalogues, makers’ marks, and market trends. Information and photographs from older material don’t always make the internet, so don’t be quick to do everything online.

• Miller’s Antiques Handbook & Price Guide — a staple for general antiques reference and values. (Many of us grew up with these books)

• Dictionary of British Artists 1880–1940 — J. Johnson & A. Greutzner.

• The Benezit Dictionary of Artists — comprehensive, multi-volume, covering artists worldwide.

• Warman’s Antiques & Collectibles — general US-based guide.

• Collectors’ Marks and Monograms — useful for identifying artists, potters, and makers. I will post these by section as I update them.

Online Databases & Catalogues

Databases and catalogues give you instant access to sales records, artist profiles, and digitised archives. They’re often the fastest way to cross-check provenance, compare works, and discover overlooked references.

• ArtUK (artuk.org) — publicly owned UK artworks.

• The Getty Provenance Index (getty.edu) — searchable provenance, dealer, and sales records.

• The Saleroom (thesaleroom.com) — auction aggregator (UK & Europe).

• Invaluable (invaluable.com) — international auction aggregator.

• British Museum Collection Online (britishmuseum.org) — wide-ranging archive including decorative arts.

• Europeana (europeana.eu) — European-wide digitised collections.

• WorldCat (worldcat.org) — library database for finding catalogues and reference books.

• Internet Archive: An amazing archive/digital library where you can find all sorts of items including articles about artists and makers, books, catalogues and all sorts.

Museums & Institutions with Online Tools

Museum and library collections provide authoritative research notes, high-quality images, and primary source material. Many are now digitised, making them accessible for detailed study from anywhere. Obviously, if you can visit in person, even better!

• V&A Collections (collections.vam.ac.uk) — decorative arts, textiles, furniture.

• Met Museum (metmuseum.org/art/collection) — searchable with excellent essays.

• Smithsonian Collections (si.edu/collections) — wide-ranging art and design holdings.

• Library of Congress Digital Collections (loc.gov) — images, archives, and catalogues.

Image & Visual Search Tools

Image search tools are invaluable for spotting matches, tracking similar works, or identifying makers’ marks. High-resolution archives and reverse search engines help connect objects to wider contexts.

• Google Arts & Culture (artsandculture.google.com) — high-res images from global museums.

• Reverse Image Search (Google / TinEye) — helpful for tracking similar artworks or auction records. (Do not underestimate this for finding out more about something you find!). My personal preference is Google reverse search, but obviously, this is only useful in certain contexts and not so much for one-off items.

Major Auction Houses (Research & Provenance)

Auction houses are vital for research, offering provenance records, valuation benchmarks, and specialist attributions. Their catalogues, images, and condition notes provide invaluable clues for identifying and understanding artworks and antiques.

• Christie’s (christies.com) — international sales across categories.

• Sotheby’s (sothebys.com) — major fine art and decorative arts sales.

• Bonhams (bonhams.com) — strong in British art, silver, ceramics, and specialist categories.

• Phillips (phillips.com) — modern and contemporary art, photography, and design.

• Dreweatts 1759 (dreweatts.com) — UK regional with strong decorative arts.

• Woolley & Wallis (woolleyandwallis.co.uk) — respected for ceramics, jewellery, and silver.

• Lyon & Turnbull (lyonandturnbull.com) — Scottish and British art specialists.

• Chiswick Auctions (chiswickauctions.co.uk) — varied categories, including Asian and Islamic art.

• Dorotheum (dorotheum.com, Austria) — one of Europe’s oldest auction houses.

• Bruun Rasmussen (bruun-rasmussen.dk, Denmark) — leading Scandinavian house.

• Heritage Auctions (ha.com, USA) — strong in collectibles, design, and illustration art.

This is by no means a definitive list, and I may post a specific article on this soon to give a few more suggestions and directives, especially if any are relevant to specific genres of art and antiques.

There’s more to come!

This section is a living toolkit that I’ll keep expanding with new resources, case studies, and “how-to” guides. If there’s a particular area you’d like me to cover, please let me know. And if you’ve found this useful, I’d be grateful if you shared it with others who might benefit. Thank you for supporting my work.

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When I start researching a piece of art, be it oil, pencil, watercolour etc, these online resources are the first places I look:

Online Resources

Databases and catalogues give you instant access to sales records, artist profiles, and digitised archives. They’re often the fastest way to cross-check provenance, compare works, and discover overlooked references.

UK & Ireland

• ArtUK (artuk.org) — digital catalogue of every publicly owned artwork in the UK.

• Artsy (artsy.net) - This is great for giving you up-to-date information on artists, and you do not need to be a paid member to get details on works for sale and also sale prices if works have gone at auction - a great tool for art valuation.

• MutualArt (mutualart.com) — artist profiles and sales data (subscription). This one is best paid for a subscriptions (approximately $30). In my opinion, this has the biggest reference list and also gives you specific detail around artist signatures to aid your identification work.

• Artnet (artnet.com) — searchable auction results (subscription for full access - approximately $30).

• Internet Archive: An amazing archive/digital library where you can find all sorts of items including articles about artists and makers, books, catalogues and all sorts.

Auction Results (See General Section for specifics on the largest Auction Houses):

• Invaluable (invaluable.com) — Aggregates hundreds of auction catalogues.

• The Saleroom (thesaleroom.com) — UK and European houses, live bidding.

• LiveAuctioneers (liveauctioneers.com) — Global auctions, particularly regional houses.

Major Galleries

Use these for learning more about existing work (especially useful if you think you may have found a study for a larger piece of work). They are also obviously great reference places to learn about the artists and their international importance.

• Tate Collection Online (tate.org.uk) — searchable archive with essays, context, and works.

• British Museum Collection (britishmuseum.org/collection) — wide coverage, including prints, drawings, and decorative arts.

• National Gallery London (nationalgallery.org.uk) — high-res images of major works and their research notes.

• National Portrait Gallery (npg.org.uk) — excellent for portraits and sitter research. (I have found this very useful when I don’t know the artist, but I have found potential sitters which can lead to a positive artist attribution)

Europe

• RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History (rkd.nl) — one of the world’s largest databases for paintings, drawings, and artists. I have used this a lot for Marine work when I have been doing deep-dives

• Gallica (Bibliothèque nationale de France) (gallica.bnf.fr) — digitised catalogues, images, and art books.

• Europeana (europeana.eu) — European platform with millions of digitised artworks and documents.

• Museo del Prado Online (museodelprado.es/en/the-collection) — detailed catalogue entries, especially for Spanish masters.

• Uffizi Gallery (uffizi.it/en/online-collections) — searchable highlights of Renaissance collections.

International

• Google Arts & Culture (artsandculture.google.com) — global high-resolution images and virtual exhibitions.

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (metmuseum.org/art/collection) — comprehensive collection database.

• The Getty Provenance Index (getty.edu/research/tools/provenance) — great for focused work on provenance and ownership history.

• MoMA Online Collection (moma.org/collection) — modern and contemporary focus.

• Smithsonian Collections Search (si.edu/collections) — art, history, and design.

Research Libraries

These are incredibly useful and are always being updated. These two are often my ‘go to’ websites:

• The Getty Provenance Index (getty.edu/research/tools/provenance) — great for focused work on provenance and ownership history. I’ve used this multiple times and found items such as auction catalogues from the 19th and 20th centuries that could not be found anywhere else online.

• The Paul Mellon Centre (www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk) in London. As above, but particularly useful for anyone studying a British work of art. It’s based near the British Museum in Holborn, London, and they are incredibly helpful if you want to book a visit. They will also email you some documents (under a certain limit of pages), which is extremely useful.

General

• artsandculture.google.com

• Artists’ Signatures - Subscription based for looking up signatures and monograms

General Art Research & Reference Books

• Dictionary of British Artists 1880–1940 — J. Johnson & A. Greutzner

• Benezit Dictionary of Artists (multi-volume, often available in libraries or online via subscription)

• The Story of Art — E.H. Gombrich (classic introduction, widely accessible)

• Art in Theory 1815–1900 — Charles Harrison & Paul Wood (great for contextual primary texts)

Dutch Art Books

• The Golden Age of Dutch Painting in Historical Perspective — Svetlana Alpers

• Rembrandt’s Eyes — Simon Schama (deep dive into Rembrandt, but also Dutch Golden Age context)

• Vermeer: The Complete Works — Karl Schütz (for a visual reference point)

Impressionists Books

• Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society — Robert Herbert (essential social context)

• Impressionism — Nathalia Brodskaïa (visual and historical survey)

• Monet: The Triumph of Impressionism — Daniel Wildenstein (catalogue raisonné-style reference)

Newlyn School Books

• Painting at the Edge: British Coastal Art Colonies of the 1880s — Frances Spalding

• Stanhope Forbes and the Newlyn School — Caroline Fox

• Artists of the Newlyn School 1880–1900 — Melissa Hardie

Pre-Raphaelites Books

• The Pre-Raphaelites — Timothy Hilton

• Pre-Raphaelite Painting Techniques — Marika Spring

• The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites — Elizabeth Prettejohn (comprehensive, beautifully illustrated)

Victorian Art Books

• Victorian Painting — Lionel Lambourne (excellent overview, richly illustrated)

• Art and Society in Victorian Britain — Martin Wiener

• The Victorians: Britain Through the Paintings of the Age — Jeremy Paxman (popular, accessible approach)

Women Artists Books

• Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader — Linda Nochlin (seminal essays)

• Art and Feminism — Helena Reckitt (survey of movements, key texts, and images)

• Great Women Artists — Phaidon Editors (encyclopaedic, wide-ranging reference)

• Evelyn De Morgan and the Allegorical Body — Elise Lawton Smith (specific but useful case study)

Custom AI Tools for Paid Subscribers only

Try this custom GPT I created. It helps you with the prompts we use to start your AI research journey. Caveat - as we know, AI doesn’t know everything and occasionally sends us on the wrong path, although I have used it very successfully many times. It’s a guide only and can’t give definitive authentication or valuation, but it can help you take your research down paths you might not have considered. It’s worth a try!

Link to Custom GPT

Upcoming Reference Material

• Signatures & Monograms

• How to Investigate Your Artwork

• Where to Begin with Provenance Research

• How to Value Your Artwork

There are so many topics to cover, and I plan to build this section gradually over time. My aim is not to rush, but to create resources that feel genuinely useful and give you the tools to research your artwork — and know where to turn for advice when you need it.

If you find this publication helpful, I’d be grateful if you could share it with others who might enjoy it too.

Share The Collector's Journey: Art & Antiques

Here you’ll find practical guides, case studies, online databases, and step-by-step “how-to” resources. As always, this section will be updated regularly as I share the references and insights I’ve found most useful in my own research.

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Up-to-date Gold & Silver Prices

There are plenty of sites to look at, but this is a good example that I often use - Royal Mint

Reference Books & Directories

Books and hallmark guides remain the backbone of silver research. They provide the essential keys to identifying makers, dates, and assay offices across countries.

• Jackson’s Hallmarks — the standard reference for British silver. (The first book I bought on recommendation from the experts!)

• Bradbury’s Book of Hallmarks — pocket reference for quick identification.

• English Silver 1675–1825 — Timothy Schroder.

• American Silver 1655–1825 — Patricia Kane.

Online Databases & Catalogues

Online hallmark databases and catalogues make it easier to confirm makers and compare examples. Many provide free access to extensive collections.

• Silver Makers Marks (silvermakersmarks.co.uk) My go to place for identifying silver hallmarks

• Silver Collection (silvercollection.it) — international reference on hallmarks and makers.

• Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks (925-1000.com) — excellent for global silver and jewellery marks.

• Goldsmiths’ Company Library (thegoldsmiths.co.uk) — catalogue and archive of British silver.

• Invaluable / The Saleroom — auction catalogues searchable by maker and hallmark.

Museums & Institutions with Online Tools

Museums hold world-class collections of silver, often with detailed notes on makers and styles. Many now offer digital access for researchers.

• Victoria & Albert Museum (vam.ac.uk) — major British silver holdings.

• British Museum (britishmuseum.org) — strong in ancient and decorative silver.

• Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org) — global silver collections, with excellent photography.

• Hermitage Museum (hermitagemuseum.org) — Russian and European silver treasures.

Auction Houses with Strong Silver Sales

Auction houses are essential for valuation and provenance, with many producing highly detailed catalogues. Both major internationals and UK specialists handle important silver.

• Bonhams — leading sales in silver and decorative arts.

• Woolley & Wallis — highly respected for silver sales.

• Christie’s & Sotheby’s — handle major silver collections internationally.

• Lyon & Turnbull — strong in Scottish silver.

• Dorotheum (Austria) — continental European focus.

• oller Auctions (kollerauktionen.ch, Switzerland) — known for European silver sales.

• Nagel Auktionen (nagel.de, Germany) — includes decorative arts and continental silver.

• Grisebach (grisebach.com, Germany) — handles decorative arts alongside fine art.

• Bruun Rasmussen (bruun-rasmussen.dk, Denmark) — Scandinavia’s leading auction house, strong in Danish silver.

• Bukowskis (bukowskis.com, Sweden) — significant Scandinavian silver and decorative arts.

• Rago/Wright (ragoarts.com, USA) — covers 20th-century silver and design.

• Skinner (Bonhams Skinner) (skinnerinc.com, USA) — important sales of American and European silver.

• Heritage Auctions (ha.com, USA) — less traditional but strong in precious metals, design, and collectibles.

Practical Research Guides

Step-by-step guides help you interpret hallmarks, date pieces, and document provenance. Over time, I’ll add case studies showing exactly how I research silver items.

• How to Read British Hallmarks — identifying assay offices and date letters.

• Understanding Continental Silver Marks — key differences from British systems.

• Recording Provenance for Silver — best practices for collectors.

This section will expand gradually, as silver research is a broad field. My aim is to build a reliable toolkit over time rather than overwhelm (you and I) with too much at once. If you find this useful, I’d be grateful if you could share this publication with others who may benefit.

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Expect a mix of style guides, pattern book links, maker references, and case studies that highlight what to look for when researching or identifying pieces. Like all areas of the Resource Library, this section will be updated regularly with reference books, online databases, museum collections etc as I build on my own research.

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Reference Books & Directories

Books remain a cornerstone for furniture research, offering detailed histories of styles, makers, and design schools. They help you place a piece within its wider cultural and historical context. The dream is to have a physical library with ornate oak carved library steps (*sigh), but for now, I would suggest some of the following:

• Dictionary of English Furniture Makers — Geoffrey Beard & Christopher Gilbert.

• Miller’s Antiques Handbook & Price Guide — updated regularly, covers a wide range of furniture and decorative arts.

• The Cabinetmakers of London, 1700–1840 — Geoffrey Beard.

• Chippendale Furniture — Christopher Gilbert.

• Modern Furniture Classics: From 1900 to Now — Charlotte Fiell & Peter Fiell.

Online Databases & Catalogues

Databases and digital archives make it easier to identify furniture styles and trace the work of specific designers. Auction and dealer catalogues are especially helpful for comparative research.

• British Antique Furniture Restorers’ Association (bafra.org.uk) — professional listings and resources.

• Design and Decorative Arts at the V&A (collections.vam.ac.uk).

• Smithsonian Collections (si.edu/collections) — furniture and decorative objects.

• The Saleroom & Invaluable — searchable auction catalogues.

• 1stDibs (1stdibs.com) — while retail-focused, a good source for stylistic comparisons and attributions.

Museums & Institutions with Online Tools

Museums hold major decorative arts collections, and many now provide detailed digital access. These resources are invaluable for understanding style, attribution, and design history.

• Victoria & Albert Museum, London — unparalleled furniture and decorative arts collection.

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York — strong in European and American furniture.

• Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris — leading French decorative arts collection.

• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam — Dutch furniture and decorative arts.

• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston — notable American decorative arts.

Image & Visual Tools

Image archives and high-resolution photographs help you compare details like joints, marquetry, carving, and upholstery. Auction houses and museum databases are particularly useful for visual study.

• V&A Image Library.

• Christie’s & Sotheby’s past sales.

• Google Arts & Culture — decorative arts collections from global museums.

Auction Houses with Strong Furniture & Decorative Arts Sales

Auction houses are vital for provenance and valuation, often producing detailed catalogues that show condition, style, and maker. Both international and regional specialists are worth checking, but you often find gems in the thousands of regional auction houses across the world.

• Christie’s & Sotheby’s — cover international decorative arts from all periods.

• Bonhams — strong in British and European furniture.

• Phillips — design-focused, strong in modern furniture.

• Dreweatts (UK) — good for decorative arts.

• Dorotheum (Austria) — continental furniture and decorative arts.

• Koller (Switzerland) — European design and decorative objects.

• Bruun Rasmussen (Denmark) — Scandinavian furniture, especially 20th century.

• Bukowskis (Sweden) — strong in Nordic furniture and decorative design.

• Wright/Rago (USA) — 20th-century design and decorative arts.

Using Auction Houses for Furniture Research
Auction house archives are excellent for studying furniture styles and makers. You can:

• Compare design details (e.g. carving, veneers, hardware) across catalogued examples.

• Search by designer or period (e.g. Chippendale, Art Deco, Mid-Century).

• Review provenance notes that trace ownership or link to exhibitions.

• Track value trends across different periods and styles.

Many houses provide free, downloadable PDF catalogues that serve as mini-reference guides.

Upcoming Reference Material

• Case Studies: Georgian, Art Deco & Mid century etc

• Trends in furniture and which styles are rising in the market

• Guides to particular makers

This section will grow gradually — there’s just so much to cover. My aim is to build a reliable toolkit of references and guides you can return to over time. If you find it useful, please consider sharing this publication with others who may benefit.

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You’ll find recommended books, online archives, and practical guides for researching both well-known and lesser-known potters. As with all Resource Library sections, this will be updated regularly as I uncover new tools and share insights from my own research journey.

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Reference Books & Directories

It might seem old-fashioned in our digital age, but books remain essential for researching ceramics and studio pottery, offering depth on makers, movements, and techniques. A strong library will give you context as well as tools for identifying marks and styles.

• British Studio Pottery — Paul Rice & Christopher Gowing (classic reference).

• Leach Pottery: St Ives 1920–2013 — Alison Britton (covers the history and potters connected to the Leach).

• The Pottery Studio Directory (thepotterystudio.com) — useful for looking up makers’ marks and biographies.

• Modern British Potters & Their Studios — David Whiting.

• John Maltby: A Life of Creativity — exhibition catalogues and retrospectives (case-specific).

Online Databases & Catalogues

Databases and online catalogues providing quick access to makers’ marks, biographies, and archived sales. They’re the fastest way to cross-check attributions and discover overlooked potters.

• British & Irish Studio Pottery Marks (bispm.co.uk) — large online index of potters and makers’ marks. I use this all the time for checking out marks on my ceramics.

• The Marks Project (themarksproject.org) — primarily US studio pottery marks but increasingly international.

• V&A Ceramics Collection (collections.vam.ac.uk) — world-class ceramics collection with images and research notes.

• Ceramic Review Archive (ceramicreview.com/archive) — digitised magazine articles covering makers, exhibitions, and techniques. Paid subscription but relatively inexpensive & very useful.

• British Museum Collection Online (britishmuseum.org/collection) — strong in both historical and contemporary ceramics.

• Nagel Auktionen (nagel.de, Germany) — strong in Asian ceramics and decorative arts.

• Koller Auctions (kollerauktionen.ch, Switzerland) — sales of European decorative arts and porcelain.

• Dorotheum (dorotheum.com, Austria) — major Viennese house with a long history in ceramics.

• Rago/Wright (ragoarts.com, USA) — contemporary ceramics and 20th-century decorative arts.

• Skinner Auctioneers (skinnerinc.com, USA) — strong in American and European ceramics.

• Bruun Rasmussen (bruun-rasmussen.dk, Denmark) — Scandinavian ceramics, design, and applied arts.

Museums & Institutions with Online Tools

Museum collections hold some of the best-documented ceramics in the world. Many now provide digital access, allowing you to study international examples alongside British and European traditions.

• Leach Pottery, St Ives (leachpottery.com) — museum, archive, and resources about Bernard Leach and the studio.

• Crafts Council Directory (craftscouncil.org.uk/directory) — profiles of contemporary ceramicists and craftspeople.

• The Fitzwilliam Museum (fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/collections/ceramics) — important British and European collections.

• Tokyo National Museum (tnm.jp) — important Japanese ceramics collection with online access.

• National Palace Museum, Taipei (npm.gov.tw) — world-renowned for Chinese ceramics.

• Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (asia.si.edu) — Asian art, including major ceramics holdings.

• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (mfa.org) — outstanding Japanese and Chinese ceramics collections.

• Cleveland Museum of Art (clevelandart.org) — strong decorative arts collection, including European and Asian ceramics.

• Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (rom.on.ca) — significant ceramic and porcelain holdings.

Image & Visual Tools

High-resolution images and reverse search tools help you compare marks, glazes, and forms. They’re invaluable for spotting similarities between studio works and catalogued examples.

• Google Arts & Culture (artsandculture.google.com) — high-res imagery for comparing styles and makers.

• Google Reverse Search is worth trying for ceramics - often you’re looking at one-off pieces, but you can often find something of a similar style by the same maker.

• Auction Aggregators (The Saleroom, Invaluable, LiveAuctioneers) — useful for catalogued images of studio pottery.

Auction Houses with Strong Ceramics Sales

Auction houses are crucial for provenance and valuation, often providing detailed images and condition reports. Both international and regional specialists can reveal surprising insights into ceramics. Even observing the specialists in action at the Auction Houses can teach you a lot about this area.

• Woolley & Wallis (woolleyandwallis.co.uk) — respected for studio pottery and British ceramics.

• Bonhams (bonhams.com) — regular sales of modern British and international ceramics.

• Adam Partridge (www.adampartridge.co.uk) - I often buy from his Ceramic sales which he holds on a fairly regular basis. Feels like its a go to place for ceramic specialists.

• Maak Contemporary Ceramics (maaklondon.com) — London-based, dedicated to studio pottery.

• Sotheby’s & Christie’s — cover important international ceramics sales. Expect to see Lucie Rie and Hans Coper amongst the greats.

Upcoming Reference Material

• How to Research Makers’ Marks in Studio Pottery

• Guide to British Studio Potters of the 20th Century

• Collecting Ceramics: Provenance and Valuation

• Spotlight on Bernard Leach, David Leach, and the St Ives Potters

This section will expand gradually, covering makers, movements, and practical guides for collectors and researchers. My goal is not speed, but depth — creating something you can return to over time.

If you find these resources useful, I’d be grateful if you could share this publication with others who might benefit.

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