Antique Identification Guides
How to identify what you have and learn what it's worth. These are the manual methods specialists use, plus the fifteen-second shortcut. New guides are added regularly; each one teaches the full traditional process before showing how Antique Snap collapses it into a single photo.
Questions about the app itself, such as what it costs, how to cancel, or how accurate it is, are answered in the help section.
How to Identify Antiques: The Five-Step Method
Marks, construction, style, wear and the market. The five checks specialists run on every object, taught in enough depth to use today.
Read the guide →The Antique Identifier App That Works From One Photo
What identifying an antique actually takes, and how to judge whether any identifier app does it properly, this one included.
Read the guide →How to Identify Antique Silver Hallmarks
Lion passant, assay offices, date letters and maker's marks. Read the cluster in order and tell sterling from silverplate in seconds.
Read the guide →How to Identify Antique Furniture
Drawer joints, saw marks, screws, wood and labels: how to tell if a piece is really old, and roughly when it was made.
Read the guide →Antique Pottery Marks Identification for Beginners
Where marks hide, the five kinds of mark, the small words that date a piece, and how to spot a mark that doesn't belong.
Read the guide →Japanese Pottery Marks and How to Date Them
What Nippon, Made in Japan and Occupied Japan tell you about age, how to read Noritake and Satsuma marks, and how to catch a fake Nippon mark.
Read the guide →How to Identify Antique Jewelry
Metal stamps, clasps, stone cuts and era styles: how to tell antique from vintage, and real from reproduction.
Read the guide →Vintage Costume Jewelry Value
Which signed pieces sell, where the maker's mark hides, plating stamps vs real gold and silver, and how to check sold prices.
Read the guide →How Much Is My Antique Worth?
Sold comps, condition, rarity and the three price bands: how to find the real number, and when a paid appraisal is worth it.
Read the guide →How to Tell If an Antique Is Valuable
Eight signs that point to real value, the warning signs that usually mean it isn't, and what to do before you clean or sell.
Read the guide →Antique Price Guide: Where to Look Up Prices and How to Read Them
Printed price books, online sold prices and auction results, and why the price you see isn't always the price you get.
Read the guide →Free Antique Appraisal: Your Real Options
Auction houses, appraisal events, online sites and apps: what each free option really gives you, and when to pay.
Read the guide →Free Antique Identification App: What "Free" Really Gets You
What's genuinely free in Antique Snap, how "free" identifier apps actually pay for themselves, and the method that's free forever.
Read the guide →Antique Value App: What It Can Tell You About Price
How an app prices an item from one photo, how to read the range it gives you, and when you still need an appraiser.
Read the guide →Rather skip the reading?
Antique Snap runs the identification for you: one photo returns the name, origin, period and an estimated value range in about fifteen seconds. Free to try, no account needed.