I agree that the best way to judge a lace is to see/touch it. However... I don't have the luxury of attending auctions, and get to see a lace dealer only if I can attend an IOLI conference. I live a long way from any lace auction.
I built my antique lace collection mostly from eBay. It takes a lot of searching and questioning... plus a bit of trust in the sellers. Most of the time, the item was as described. Of course there were a few things that I was disappointed in when it arrived. If it was too much off the description, I returned it. I tried to be careful with my bidding limits. My budget is not expansive so I had to judge what the item was worth to ME and how much I could invest. I questioned the seller if the details were missing, and even requested additional pictures on some items. I learned which sellers were knowledgeable about their items, and watched the others closely. Yes... you can get some poor pieces, and damage is not always shown. But it's also possible to get some gems. I'm especially please with some of the lappets I obtained. I would wear them at IOLI conferences... a different one each day. Study samples can be found on eBay with modest prices, if a person just wants small pieces of various kinds of lace. Attending a lace auction would be a great experience, but I doubt it will ever happen to me. I pursue my love of lace by the means available... making it myself, reading about it, and using the internet to obtain things not available where I live. Alice in Oregon ... where I just finished putting fabric in the middle of three (!!!) lace edgings that have been waiting for years. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
