It seems odd, but many things go into valuation including the ease with which a dealer can store and carry the item to shows and the ease with which it can be displayed by the buyer. You often hear that machine made lace is not valuable because it is mass produced, but Beanie Babies are mass produced and they seem very collectible. There are some pieces of outstanding machine made lace made for World Fairs and my impression is that their association with the World Fairs (which are now very popular for some reason) is worth more of a boost in their price than their inherent beauty of design or cleverness of execution. Any thing a bride might wear is automatically more valuable since you are bidding against a market where people will spend an extraordinary amount for attire for their special day. So veils are expensive, but lappets are less so. Here in the Metropolitan area, I am told, that many designers buy vintage textiles to inspire them in their designs and at the moment printed textiles from the 1950's are selling very well. So, I guess it depends on who is buying and for what reason in a particular geographical area. When I went to the antique show at the Armory (again New York) last fall the only lace being sold was vintage table cloths and linens such as one might actuallly use. Nowhere did I see the interesting little samples or antiquated costume pieces that make me open my purse at the IOLI convention. Clearly in the New York market you cannot afford to rent a booth for the pocket change that you might make selling little samples to me. One dealer has explained to me that a bold design, such as that in Battenburg is what catches the eye and brings the customers to her booth. The intricate construction and fairy lightness of early 18th century lace is a non-seller to the general public at textile shows and is an acquired taste in just a few cognoscenti, not the sort of thing that earns a living for the hard working textile dealer. I notice that there is very little interest in machine made lace among lacemakers since we are all looking to take a piece of handmade lace home and study it under a magnifying glass. We are looking for technique, not design. On the other hand, many of the inquiries we get at the museum relate to machine made lace which the public comes into contact with much more often than the hand made thing. And in fact, most people do not perceive the world of difference that we makers perceive between the handmade and machine made article. No doubt, hand made lace sometimes has a poor and unexciting design and machine made lace sometimes has a beautiful design. Devon
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