Translate the label into visible details
Write down the actual features that led you to the suggestion: repeated straight lines, a curved handle, a particular border or the proportions of a cabinet. Avoid using the period name as its own explanation. For example, saying the object has a geometric border tells another reader more than saying it looks like the proposed style. Keep this observation list short enough to compare against more than one reference without changing the criteria halfway through.
Compare the reference’s whole record
Open an appropriate museum or collection entry and read the description, not only the image caption. Record the title, date wording, materials and source identifier where available. Separate the reference object’s documented date from your object’s unknown date. Note both matching and different details, including features your photograph does not show. If the record describes an attribution rather than a certainty, do not remove that qualifier when copying the comparison into your own notes.
Use a conclusion with a next step
Write a statement such as similar decorative vocabulary, production date unconfirmed. Then identify the next useful evidence: a readable label, an existing receipt or a specialist’s examination of an accessible construction detail. Do not let a convincing visual comparison answer unrelated questions about authenticity or value. Keep successive suggestions with dates so the research path remains understandable. You can enjoy an object’s design while leaving its period unresolved; an incomplete but honest description is more useful than a confident year with no supporting record.
Take it with you
- Describe visible features instead of repeating a period name.
- Keep the reference’s date separate from your object’s date.
- End with the evidence needed for the next decision.
Antique Scan
Antiques and object stories
AI identifications, dates and mark readings may be wrong or incomplete. Antique Scan is not authentication, certified appraisal or proof of provenance. The guides describe independent research practices, not additional app features. Access and any paid options depend on current in-app terms.