Since the company is now slightly over 250 years old, anything made from year one to year 150 is now officially considered to be an antique. Antique certification begins for any item that can be verified to be at least 100 years old and since the Wedgwood Company keeps meticulous records on all of its designs, any piece of Wedgwood can be quickly, easily and accurately dated. In addition to meticulous record keeping and files, Josiah Wedgwood marked all of his designs with a signature to identify the piece as his and not a copy, and to date it accurately to the month and year it was produced. Many people have gone to great lengths to fraudulently copy these marks to make a newer piece of china look like a piece of antique Wedgwood China for the obvious financial gain. With the advent of online auctions, antique Wedgwood China has become a hot item and the uninformed buyer may think hes getting a bargain on some antique pieces, when in fact hes buying newer pieces made to look like they are antiques. There are collections of antique Wedgwood China worth millions, depending upon the original owner, the care and maintenance of the collection and its completeness. The collection once owned by the Queen of England, meticulously maintained, passed down through the generations and currently on display in London, is literally priceless. The main reason for this huge interest in antique Wedgwood China, other than the obvious financial one, is that people desire to have a complete collection and after many years of less than stellar maintenance, pieces break and have to be replaced. |
