Uncovering the Uniform, Part 3

Last week we came close to a match for the man in the feathered cap with crowns on his sleeves.

A few crafty readers looked outside the usual sources for images and suggested looking at an antiques website, Worthpoint.com. Good idea. I often use antique sites and even eBay to try to find matches for items I’m looking for.

Worthpoint calls itself the “Internet of Stuff.” You can search and then look at the matching tabs. When you look for something there is a screen with tabs: price guide, marks, library, classifieds, or news articles.

• Price Guide shows you what similar items have sold for.
• Marks can help if you’re looking for distinct marks that appear on an item.
• Library provides a list of books on relevant topics.
• Classified is self-explanatory. You can buy items.
• News Articles contains links to articles written by Worthpoint and blog posts on the topic you’re researching or a related one.

On Worthpoint, a few readers found an image of a similar coat. Read the description though. The item sold on eBay and the seller had done the research. I’d love to see a citation for the source material.

Is it a match?

Possibly. Two like-minded readers, Bill and Susan, found a similar item on the Worthington Galleries site.

Worthington’s experts evaluated the item and set a price. Their curators have experience with antiques making them a reliable source of information.

It looks like we have a match BUT are we done examining the photo and the evidence. Not quite.

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