Computer Column: Following the Links

by John P. Reid, jreid@dca.net

An e-mail from loyal subscriber and dedicated antiques collector Barry Perlman to the editor of the Maine Antique Digest proposed an interesting game. It involves the links antiques dealers include on their Web sites. He suggests following links from one dealer to the next as a way of finding "dealers who may not advertise or a way of seeing new items on the market."

Perlman asked, "What happens as one goes from link to link? What does one learn? What does one see? And so forth. At the least, one becomes an expert in what a good Web site for dealers is and what an average or poor Web site for dealers is."

-A Web Odyssey

I tried following links on antiques sites. Perlman and I both found that many dealers are chary of links. Others list only business friends and fellow professional association members. I had to resort to museum and informational links sometimes to keep the chain going.

Here is my first try. It cannot be guaranteed that these links will still be there for the reader to follow by the time this is published. Lost sites can be found, however, with a Web search such as Google (www.google.com) or Bing (www.bing.com).

First, I logged on to the site of H.A. Eberhardt and Son Inc. (www.eberhardts.com), Philadelphia. This firm traces its roots back more than 130 years. The site has retail pages for fine china and glass as well as extensive promotion for its large china and glass restoration service.

Under Eberhardt's "References and Links" find Janet Gale Hammer's Web site. Hammer of Longboat Key, Florida, deals in collectible retired Lladró figurines. Click "Home" to see the illustrated inventory with prices. There is an 11-year archive of informational newsletters. Click "Helpful Links" at the top of any page and choose "Restoration Artists" for a list of 34 recommended restorers.

In this list, click on Hamlin's Restoration Studio, Ballwin, Missouri. There are good pictures and information about this family-owned restoration business. Click "Links" and choose the first item, the American Art Pottery Association (AAPA).

Under "Quick Links" on the AAPA site click "Museums." Scroll down to Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans. The museum site has an amazing number of events, on-line exhibitions, and links. Many are worth following. Click "Links" on the left of the museum home page and scroll down to "Hermann-Grima/Gallier Historic Houses." Both these New Orleans attractions are open to visitors.

Open the "Links" page on the historic houses site and find the Dauphine Orleans Hotel. There has been a hotel on this spot since 1775. You can stay the night for about the price of a nice country bed and breakfast. The links at the bottom of the Dauphine Orleans site list other historic New Orleans hotels.

The chain of dealers was not very long, but we got from historic Philadelphia to romantic New Orleans lodgings by way of a St. Louis suburb and the Gulf Coast of Florida-not a bad trip. But I will try again later.

-Web Site Quality

Perlman commented in a follow-up e-mail to me that there is a wide range in quality among antiques dealers' Web sites. He said that there is "lots of angst in Maine Antique Digest and elsewhere about the economy, business being bad, and so forth. Yet I am struck by how many dealers simply do not update their Web site, how the merchandise always seems largely the same. I like Web sites with 'new merchandise' buttons to see what I may not have seen before."

He continued, "I assume soon a dealer will use Twitter (www.twitter.com) so that customers can receive cell phone messages about something recently purchased or for sale."

I agree with Perlman; it seems to me that a great many dealers' sites are only a single cookie-cutter poster-style page that never changes. There may be one picture of a desirable antique or a shot of a corner in the shop but no merchandise lists, business hours, driving directions, informative or educational material, or links to related sites.

Traditionally, a young collector learned from helpful, experienced dealers. One service that dealers of today could provide for themselves and other dealers is educational material and links to ease new collectors into the field. Some exist. The Eberhardt site above has detailed suggestions for what to do and not do when a precious ceramic or glass object is broken. Janet Gale Hammer's Web site has a wealth of information on Lladró figurines. The Web site of French Antique Shop (www.frantique.com), located in New Orleans, has many good illustrations, closeup views, descriptions, messages from the owner, and press material for publications. There is even a "New Arrivals" button. My own regional old book collecting site (www.jnjreid.com/cdb) has 119 articles on the how-to of collecting in this rather narrow field. The basically noncommercial site was meant to attract new collectors, and it does.

-Odyssey Two

For another trip through dealer space, log on to Hanes & Ruskin Antiques (www.hanesandruskin.com), Old Lyme, Connecticut. The site has illustrated catalog pages with prices and back issues of an informative newsletter.

On the Hanes & Ruskin link page, click on Fiske & Freeman, Ipswich, Massachusetts. This firm deals in 17th- and 18th-century English oak and walnut furniture. There are illustrated catalog pages with prices, back issues of its newsletter, and a charming video called AntiquesRGreen about a 350-year-old stool. An invitation is offered to follow the firm's doings on Twitter for "inventory updates, shop hours, our show schedule, and occasional musings about all things antique."

On "Links" at the top of the above home page, click Christine Archibald Portrait Miniatures and then click on the child's portrait to enter the site. There you will find illustrated catalog pages with prices, recent acquisitions, a history of miniatures, a bibliography, and links to Archibald's blog and Twitter accounts.

Halfway down the portrait site's links, click on Anne Frances Moore Fine Art, Brooklyn, New York. The site includes illustrated inventory with detailed descriptions, publications, the dealer's show and lecture schedules, and a bibliography.

Click on "Links" at the top of any of Moore's pages and find the Smithsonian Archives of American Art where days can be spent following links. One of the more intriguing (on the left of the page) is the "Internship, Volunteer, and Fellowship Opportunities" category.

-Thanks

My thanks to Barry Perlman <Perlman@uwosh.edu>, a former university professor, for these ideas. Readers who play the links game and come up with an interesting series are invited to e-mail the details to <jreid@dca.net>.

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