Whether you use an app, ask an expert, or search comparable sales yourself, everything downstream depends on the images. Blurred, backlit or single-angle photos leave too much guesswork on the table. Here is the exact routine we recommend before identifying any antique.
1. Set up the scene, not the object
Choose a neutral background — a plain wooden table or a folded sheet — that does not compete with the object. Move to natural, indirect daylight from a window if possible; overhead lamps flatten details and shift colours.
Wipe fingerprints and light dust with a soft cloth, but do not clean, polish or restore anything until you know what it is. Wax, chemicals and abrasives can erase the very evidence that gives an object its value.
2. Start with a full-object hero shot
Frame the whole piece from front, roughly at object height. Keep the lens parallel to the object to avoid distortion. Include a bit of margin so the AI can see the edges — a chair leg, a lip, a rim, a shoulder line.
This first frame anchors the identification: shape, proportions, general style and era all come from it.
3. Add the identification triad
Three follow-up shots do most of the work.
- The base or bottom — where marks and stamps usually live. Rotate the object into daylight, focus at the closest point, and shoot straight down.
- Any signature, hallmark or maker mark, filling most of the frame. Even a mark you cannot read yourself gives an app or dealer the strongest clue.
- A single unusual detail: a hinge, a screw type, a hand-cut joint, a bubble in glass, a colour under the glaze, a repair, a patina line.
4. Capture the honest condition
Buyers pay for the object they see, not the object you describe. A candid photo of every crack, chip, scratch, missing element or restored area protects you when selling and lets the app account for condition in the value range.
For furniture, show the joinery from the back and inside. For ceramics, look under a strong light for hairline cracks that only appear when tilted. For metals, include weight and any measurable dimensions.
5. Add scale and provenance clues
Place a common object next to the piece for scale — a coin, a hand, a book. Whenever you have paperwork, a family note, a receipt, a photograph of the object in an old room, include it. Provenance is often what separates a mid-range price from a strong one.
6. Review before you submit
Before running an identification, look at your photos on the largest screen you have. If a mark is not sharp, retake it. If a detail is hidden in a shadow, move the object 30 cm closer to the window. Two more minutes here save an hour of wrong guesses.
Photo checklist
- Full-object shot at object height with a plain background
- Base/bottom shot straight down in natural light
- Close-up of every mark, signature or stamp
- One unusual construction or material detail
- Honest photos of any damage or restoration
- A common object for scale and any provenance paperwork
Try the six-shot routine with AntiqID
Take the shots above, drop them into the app, and get a grounded identification with era, region, materials and a value range.
Get AntiqID