Vintage Guides

Copper, Bronze or Brass? How to tell guide header, Oddly Darling Vintage
Copper, Bronze or Brass? How to Tell Vintage Metals Apart
Copper, bronze and brass can look alike, especially once they've aged. Learn how to tell them apart by color, weight, sound, patina and simple at-home checks. Read more...
Crowned A and ring silver hallmarks on the bottom of an unidentified silver creamer
Mystery Silver Marks: What to Do When You Can't Identify a Hallmark
Found a silver piece with a mark you can't find anywhere? Here's how to read the clues, from purity numbers and assay scrapes to file tests, using a mystery creamer... Read more...
Vintage Chinese painted enamel on copper trinket box with blue butterfly and orange flowers
Cloisonné vs. Painted Enamel: How to Tell Them Apart
Half the enamel boxes online are called cloisonné, and plenty of them aren't. Here's how to tell real cloisonné from painted (Canton) enamel in about ten seconds. Read more...
Mid-century cloisonné bud vase with bird and floral enamel and a gold-tone rim, from Oddly Darling Vintage
What Is Cloisonné? A Guide to Cloisonné Enamel Vases, Boxes and Bells
Cloisonné is enamel fused into tiny cells made of metal wire, a craft that runs from Ming China to the mid-century vases on grandmother's curio shelf. Here's how it's made,... Read more...
Vintage solid brass horse harness medallion with a sunburst cut-out design and scalloped edge, from Oddly Darling Vintage
What Are Horse Brasses? A Guide to Antique and Vintage Horse Harness Brasses
Horse brasses once decorated the harnesses of English draft horses and now hang on walls and mantels. Here's their history, how cast and stamped brasses differ, how to tell an... Read more...
Vintage solid brass pineapple lidded container
Solid Brass or Brass-Plated? How to Tell, With Simple Tests
Is it solid brass or just brass-plated? A magnet, a scratch, a little weight and a look at the back will usually tell you. Read more...
Vintage ornate sterling silver statement ring with a large golden stone
How to Identify Sterling Silver in the Wild: 925 Marks and Simple Tests
Sterling or silver plate? Learn the marks that mean sterling, the ones that don't, and a few quick checks you can do at an estate sale or thrift store. Read more...
Antique Rogers & Bro A1 silver plate ladle with fiddle handle
Silver Plate vs. Sterling: A Collector's Guide to Vintage Silverplate
How to tell silver plate from sterling silver, what the marks mean, and why vintage silverplate is still worth collecting and loving. Read more...
Signed Nekrassoff copper keepsake box with an emerald green enamel lid, from Oddly Darling Vintage
Who Was Serge Nekrassoff? A Guide to Nekrassoff Copper, Pewter and Enamel
Serge Nekrassoff was a Russian-born metalsmith who made hand-hammered pewter, copper and enamel in New York, Connecticut and Florida. Here's his story, how his work changed over the years, how... Read more...