Collectibulldogs the four Ps. 25/5/2016

Hi folks

Good evening everybody I hope that you are all having a nice peaceful day or evening as it now is for half of us at least.

We were doing so well analytics was looking good and it seemed there was lots of repeat interest in the site…

I’m afraid to say it’s not good for me to be taking my eye off the ball at the moment, I took a couple of days off blogging and promoting and my views plummeted so until I can find some real help with the promotion of the website, I will just have to get used to the views being of a random nature or find new ways for Collectibulldogs to reach new interest.

I was naive to think just appearing in the local news etc. would bring the website more traffic but that was not the case and I need to rethink how I reach my readers and or wait to see what kind of interactive site my webmaster will end up going with.

I was checking out my silver after my last blog and the diamond in a piece I was putting back got me to thinking!

If diamonds have the Cs as their class system there must be a similar kind for collectors so I thought up the four P’s.

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P The first of.

The first of the P’s I was thinking of is Perfection.

As a collector myself I know there’s nothing more disheartening than to buy a piece that you thought had nothing wrong with it only to find out out it has flaws. Cracks and chips are the most common give away from a piece not being pristine but then there’s also the fake pieces too.

Even if a piece is perfect and has nothing wrong with its appearance or detail it’s still worthless if it’s an illegal copied piece or a fake.

When I first started out I found it a little hard to tell the difference but as you get more used to seeing lots and lots of collectibles it starts to become easier to spot the wrong pieces that are obviously misleadingly described, this could be in the detail of the shape, the colour, sometimes weight, and back stamps.

Back stamps have many meanings they normally show a symbol of the maker and country where the piece is from but can contain other info that may inform you of the pieces model number what colour way number the pattern is and the obvious would be the proof if limited edition.

Folks that fake pieces use cheaper raw materials they often get the colour from the period wrong and a common trick by these criminals is to smudge the back stamps they apply just before drying and this is so you can make out the name but not 100%.

When I get a piece I check its colour to match the country and date made I look for more info you can sometimes find embossed into the porcelain and two good signs of a genuine piece is REAL crazing (there is a faux version used) and my favourite the dirty bottom.

No matter how clean you keep a piece it will always show signs of wear on the base and fake or copied pieces have the new white look (Will talk more on helping with fauxs in upcoming blog).

The perfect piece is what most serous collectors go for, these will retain their value there’s no outgoing expenses for repairs and no loss to value because of faults.

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The second of the P’s

My second P in the list of four is Provenance!

This is a term used to show proof that an object is somehow associated or connected with something of importance or someone of similar stature.

Proof can start where the last P finished and that’s the back stamp, there’s no real point in collecting if there was no back stamps proving where pieces were made, it would just be a collectible or collection on mass with no back story as no one would know whom made what and when/where etc.

Provenance is widely used in the auction and antiques world as pieces come up for sale with stories that they once had famous owners users and if proved this helps to raise the objects value to obtain a better market price.

So what does this particular P manifest as?

Well it could be old letters signed declarations of previous owner ship family heirlooms and I think the most powerful tool of all to use when proving that something holds extra value are photos, pictures of the piece with famous ex owners or the object being shown through the story the picture is backing up is sometimes enough to prove the right of the piece but sometimes even that is not enough and extra research needs to be done.

P number three

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Prestige if I got the term right right is the third P in the list.

It’s easy to just go out and collect anything bulldog related and I know this as I was that person, when I first started as a collector my taste in collectibles was certainly of an amateur collectors mindset, I thought the pieces I first bought were going to make me thousands and oh how wrong I was back then.

I started collecting Royal Doulton in the year of 2014 before this time I didn’t understand their worth or prestige in a bulldog collection and did not really like the pattern at first either.

Royal Doulton holds a high P standing in the collectibles world and the fact I over saw this at first could of meant I carried on collecting without ever realising there were hundreds of pieces out there, all fighting to the be the best piece a collection has to offer.

I would like to add that it’s this P that has helped me to move Collectibulldogs along as I have been doing, there are pieces in the collection that make it a little bit special and due to that Collectibulldogs, is seen more than just a few ornaments sitting on a shelf or two but taken seriously.

Just like collections that sit in museums which reminds me I think our highest prestige and a piece we are extremely proud of is the piece we have in the Brighton toy museum at the moment.

The fourth P

I as a person do not really like talking about money.

I do not know why and I’m sure others are the same but the forth of the P’s has to be Profit!.

If you have all your other P’s correct done your homework/research and end up with a class collection of top quality pieces, then you should be rewarded with a payout when you go to sell the collection.

In my researching I have learned that a piece obtained if perfect should give you a 30% profit increase so that’s what you paid for the piece and around 30% more over a period of up to and onwards of ten years, this can change of course if trends move or a piece is very sought after if this happens the book price for the piece goes out of the window so to speak and the market (buyers) dictate the price of the piece.

Not all collectibles are going to give you a return this is no ones fault just the way things go in the auction world and do take heed when I suggest researching I know it’s boring but not auctioneers get it right and your prized Franz Bergman could be getting sold off in a box of assorted metals remember for these places it’s all about a quick turn around with many only having house clearance knowledge.

Any collection appraised over £5000 should be seen and sold through a specialist auction, the Auction house will be making their money so will spend time helping with the research if needed and allow time for the word to get out this normally depends on the size and quality as to attract the best and right sort of customers.

Please remember I have previously stated that not all collect for profit and collecting for either love or fun is just as neat too.

My silent P

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This last P is one I’m adding but can be classed as a silent P lol.

this P stands for Proud.

I did not achieve this feeling until earlier this year another term is self affirmation, it was not till one bad day when I had expressed to Debs I felt that I had enough of fighting the website and some personal issues and wanted to pack it all in crawl under the duvet and go to sleep forever.

Debs said there was no way she was going to let me fail at this point and was immensely proud of what I had shown I could achieve, this switched something on in my head and after spending some time actually soaking up the contents of the collection I started feeling good about what was in front of me.

So that’s the four P’s (with silent fifth P) I think I got it all about right if not feel free to right in and till next time folks happy collecting…