***Update 2/16/2011: I noticed that some of the Vintage Fashion Guild Links have moved. I have changed the a-z label links location to the corrected link but will have to check the rest of the links over later when I have time. I also have a list of links that viewers have submitted to add, which I will also do then. Thanks for your patience!
***Update 11/13/09: While editing, I discovered that you now cannot access certain of the Ebay links unless you sign into the site. Unfortunate but worth the effort to access these very useful links, nonetheless.***
While Nothing replaces long experience and years of handling, these helpful internet links plus a few really good resource books can help you get a start in collecting and working with vintage and antiques.
My emphasis is on Vintage and Antique Clothing, Notions and Textiles, but there are also MANY useful links for other types of antiques, collectibles and jewelry if you patiently scroll down to those sections.
These will be continually updated and edited for relevance and usefulness. please let me know if I've omitted something or there are any errors or dead links.
GENERAL ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES PRICING (Take with a grain of salt, please)
Collectibles Free Price Guides
searchable catalogs of Closed Auctions Worldwide (including Sotheby's and Christie's)
Artfact
Live Auctioneers
CLOTHING LINKS (Huge List, scroll past it to get to other collectibles)
General Reference Vintage Fashion Info and Guides:
Dating Vintage Fashion, Guides & Tips
Basics of Dating Vintage & Some Basic Terms
General
Beloved Linens Textile Diary: Fashion (w/ links to L of each Section)
Vintage Textile- Antique Clothing Articles
Fashion Era- Costume, Clothing, Fashions & Social History
Vintage Fashion Guild
The Costume Gallery
Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute
Metropolitan Museum European Womens Clothing A-Z
Kent State University Museum
Manchester Art Gallery Costume Collection
Museum at FIT/Couture from Chicago History Museum
Design Museum London
Making of America Digital Library
Leicestershire County Council Designer Collection
University of Virginia Collection of Historic Dress
Shooting Star Enterprises Reference Library
Tudor Links Costume History & Construction Articles
Scran Museum Search
Standardization of Clothing/Short History of Ready-Made
The Royal Collection e-Gallery
Hull Museums Collections: Costume and Fashion
the Costumer's Guide to Movie Costumes
Vin*Fash Index Links
Glossaries & Encyclopedias
Fashion Encyclopedia - Great Resource
Steel Zipper- Vintage Clothing Terms & Definitions
A Guide to Lingerie Terms & Some History of Lingerie
Beloved Linens Textile Diary: Textile Terms Dictionary A-Z
Visual Dictionary- Good for IDing clothing construction details
Children’s Clothing:
Kent State History Museum Centuries of Childhood
Clothing Eras:
Clothing Silouhette Era Timelines
Met Museum: 20th Century Silhouette and Support
John Peacock's 1930's Fashion Progressive Chart
General Timelines
Fashion Encyclopedia
Vin*Fashion Links- History of Fashion By Era
Metropolitan Museum European Womens Clothing A-Z
Vintage Fashion Guild Fashion Timeline
Retro Fashion History 1948-1979
La Couturiere Parisienne- Medieval-1950 + Ethnic Costume & Fashion Site
Fashion and Prices by Decade (Scroll down and look on right of page for decades)
Over Seventy Years of History of Fashion 1920-Present
Victorian
Work Dress for the Victorian Lady
Victoriana- 1800 Fashion Index
1920s
Lara Jacobi- Great Gatsby/Clothing of the 1920s
Historic Waco Museum-1920s Evening Fashion
1920-30 Fashion
1930s
John Peacock's 1930's Fashion Progressive Chart
1960s
Electric Swinging Pussycat Archive of 1960s Fashion
1980s-1990s
Leicestershire County Council Collection of the Clothing Label "Next"
Cleaning and Restoration:
Jewelry
Sparklz- Vintage Costume Jewelry Cleaning & Repair Tips
Leather, Reptile & Exotic Leather
Club Lexus- Tips on Deep Cleaning Old Leather
Reptile & Exotic Leather Care
Exotic Leather Care
Moth Control
Clothes Moths: Identification and Control in the Home
Sneakers (or similar materials)
Niketalk-Sneaker Care/Maintenance Post
Niketalk-Official Cure For Yellowing
Textiles
Sewing With Slippery Velvet
Sewing Silk/Rayon Velvet
Washing, Storing & Caring for Antique Linens
Silk Road Textile Merchants- Stain Removal
The Care and Cleaning of Vintage Linens
Antique linen restoration (stain removal)
Tipnut- Stains
Laundering & Dry Cleaning by Mary Brooks Picken, 1931
Tips for stain removal from your needlework fabric
How to Set Dye
Tips On Cleaning Vintage Textiles
Laundry Room Essentials- Vintage Clothing & Accessories
Cleaning and Blocking Needlepoint
Fashion Magazine & Print Archives:
Jalou Gallery-French Magazine Archives
Google News Archive Search
The Advertising Archives-UK site
The Institute of Official Cheer (Humorous Site which pokes fun of vintage ads and print material)
Vintage Girl Watchers- Bad Girl Fashion or just plain fun
Fashion Trends, Current:
FaceHunter
Promspot
The Fashion Spot Forums
Furs:
Vintage Fashion Guild Fur Resource
Fur Commission Color Palette Guide for Mink and Fox
Moscow Hide and Fur Color Palette Guide for Fox
Peter Palms-Great Site w/Tons of Photos of Different Varieties of Fur Pelts
Endangered Species
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Endangered Species Program
Handbags:
Bag Lady Emporium
Vintage Skins Exotic Bags
Enid Collins -Fuzzylizzie's Resource
Hand Fans:
Fan Association of North America Resource Links
Costumer's Manifesto Fan Pages And Links
Cheltenhan Art Gallery Fans Info Sheet PDF
Optical Fans
Fans: A Link Between Cultures (w/great links to left of page)
Hats:
Hat Museum BIG list of Hat Resource Links
Men's Hat History
Costume Gallery- Hat History 1850s-1930s w/ Designers
Village Hat Shop- THE MODE IN HATS AND HEADDRESS By R. Turner Wilcox
Victorian Bonnets- Good Resource w/Period Timeline
Vintage Fashion Guild- The History of Women's Hats
Antique Dress- Museum Collection
Hats/Headpieces/Wigs/Accessories
Hat Center- Hat Terms Glossary
Hawaiian:
Wave Shoppe- Aloha Attire History of Hawaiian Holoku
Hilo Hattie
Vintage City Clothing- Hawaiian Labels
The Vintage Hawaiian Shirt: An Aristic Retrospective
Aloha Funwear's History of Hawaiian Shirts & Dresses
Jeans, Denim and Motorcycle Jackets:
Boys' Jeans
Red Cloud- Labels, Zippers, Signs & Ads for: Jeans, T Shirts, Military & Workwear
Steel Zipper guide to Vintage Levi's 646 Bellbottoms
Vintage Motorcycle Jackets
Label and Designer Info:
Designer name pronunciation
Vintage Fashion Guild A-Z Label Resource w/Label Pics
Union Labels, ILGWU labels, Menswear ACWA & UGWA labels, RN#s, WPL#s, CA#s
Ikwewe's Extremely useful guides on All of Above
Federal Trade Commission RN# Lookup
Steel Zipper- Guide to ACWA Tags
Patent and Trademark Search
USPTO Patent & Trademark Search
Blythe Hopes Guide to Dating Vintage using the USPTO Search
Label/Manufacturer Company History Search
Fashion Encyclopedia w/Designer Lookup
Fashion.Infomat. Fashion & Industry Search
Reference For Business- Company History, Textiles & Apparel
JCPenney and House Brands
Galetime- Dating of J C Penney labels & house brands
Christian Dior
TopFoto- Gallery: Christian Dior w/dates
Mariano Fortuny
Senses Artnouveau Brussels- FORTUNY Links & Book List
Rudi Gernreich
Rudi Gernreich Chronology
Gustav Beer, Paul Poiret, Callot Soeurs, Jeanne Paquin, House of Worth, Jacques Doucet, Georges Doeuillet
NY Times Archive Article
Victoriana- Gazette du Bon Ton 1912-1915 French Designer Dresses
Pendelton Woolen Mills, Inc.
Pendleton Woolen Mills Company History w/Timeline
Lilly Pulitzer
Lilly Pulitzer Print Idenification
Alfred Shaheen
A Visual Tour of Shaheen's During the 1950s
German Labels
Photos, C Jahnke Collection- German Vintage Labels
List of Anthropologie Brands
List Of ANTHROPOLOGIE Brands~ Avoid Ripoffs!
Lingerie:
Vintage Fashion Guild Lingerie Resource
A Guide to Lingerie Terms & Some History of Lingerie
Museum of Menstruation- Underpants History
Corsets, Bras and Foundation Garments
Ivy Leaf's Tribute to the Corsetiere
The Antique Corset Gallery
Leicestershire County Council-Symington Collection of Corsetry, Foundation & Swimwear
Met Museum 20th-Century Silhouette and Support
A Short History of the Playtex Company
Olga
Olga History
Playtex
A Short History of the Playtex Company
Van Raalte Lingerie, Gloves, Night Caps and More
Empress Jade Vintage- Vaan Raalte Lingerie &More
Menswear:
How to Measure a Jacket
Esquire Magazine- Evolution of Men's Style: 1933-2008
Hitory of Menswear 1800s to present
Galetime-Men's Suits, Casual/Sports Shirts & Ties
Vintage Skivvies- Men's Underwear History
Men's Black Tie Resource with Magazine photos (see links to left)
Sewing Patterns:
Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki
Vintage Fashion Guild Vintage Patterns Guide
Miss Helene's Vintage Pattern Cheat Sheet
Cemetarian-Sizing Vintage Sewing Patterns
The Hem Line- Explanation of Vintage Half Sizes
Size Charts and Fit Guides:
Clothing
JC Penney- Good General Clothing Size Chart
Butterick-How To Measure Your Body (w/Illustration)
The Hem Line- Explanation of Vintage Half Sizes
Cemetarian-Sizing Vintage Sewing Patterns (How Sizing Changed through Eras)
Coat and Jackets
Coat & Jacket Fitment Guide
How to Measure a Jacket
Rings
Ring Size Chart
Shoes
Palmer Shoes- How to Measure Your Feet (measurement is for FOOT SIZE, your shoe should be a bit longer. Use the charts below for SHOE size measurement)
International Shoe Size Conversion Chart and Sizing Chart
Veganline-Unusual Smaller Shoe Sizes In This Chart
Shoes & Boots:
All About Shoes Bata Shoe Museum
Head Over Heels History of Shoes
Soulmates: The Century In Shoes
L.A. Times: Stroll Back In Time Slideshow
Shoe Icons Virtual Shoe Museum
Vintage Fashion Guild- Sole Provider
Boots
Dimlights Cowboy Boot Guide
Sneakers
Niketalk Message Board
Charlie's Sneaker Pages
Sweaters:
Vintage Fashion Guild-Cashmere Sweaters
Cowichan Education Thread
Swimwear:
Capricorn Vintage Virtual Swimsuit Museum(w/Tags)
FuzzieLizzie's Vintage Bathing Suits
Glamoursurf Designer Swimwear Labels Directory
Glamoursurf Swimwear Timeline
Glamoursurf Articles on Swimwear
Fun "Bikini Science" Chronology
Women's Swimwear: The 20th Century & Present by Roselyn Hsueh
Vintage Fashion Guild-In The Swim
Victoriana- The 1900s Bathing Suit
Leicestershire County Council-Symington Collection of Corsetry, Foundation & Swimwear
Scrapbook of Vintage Men's Beachwear by David Claudon
Uniforms:
American Airlines
The Kiwi Club American Airlines Uniform Collection
American Red Cross
Shirley Powers American Red Cross Collection
US Militaria
U.S. Militaria Forum
Smithsonian NMAH-Price of Freedom Collection
The Steel Zipper Vintage Military Uniform Resource
Blitzkriegbaby Women's Militaria Site
TEXTILES & NOTIONS:
Buttons:
Button Dictionary
VintageButtons.net
Searching and Buying Collectible Buttons Workshop
Exotic Leather and Skins:
LAAC-Distinguishing Features of Crocodilian Leathers
Vintage Skins-Understanding Exotic Skin Types
Vintage Skins Website
Lace, Fabrics and Textiles:
a Short History of Manmade Fibers
Beloved Linens Textile Diary (Great Reference, Links, Books)
Beloved Linens Textile Diary: Textile Designers
Beloved Linens Textile Diary: Fabrics
Beloved Linens Textile Diary: Linens
Beloved Linens Textile Diary: Monograms
ATEXINC Textile Educational Supplies (Swatch Book)
Fibersource-A Short History of Manufactured Fibers
Fabrics.net-Various Useful Fabric & Textiles Articles
Shopfromyourseat Antique & Vintage Linens Guides
Antique Linen Damask ID & Recommended Reading
Vintage Tablecloths Club Resource List
Barkcloth
Trueup-About Barkcloth
Coololdstuff-Barkcloth: Then and Now by Glynis Ward
What on earth is barkcloth?
Sherry Degrave-Vintage Barkcloth Style Names
Embroidery & Needlework
Visual Identification of Embroidery & Needlework
Society Silk Embroidery
Beloved Linens Textile Diary: Embroidery
Feedsacks
A Visual Guide to Feedsack Identification
Lace
Lace Fairy-IDing & Understanding Lace, Step by Step
Lace Fairy-Distinguishing Between Machine & Handmade
Lace Fairy-Lace Types A-Z
Handmade Lace Identification - A Primer
Fleurdandeol-Laces of Italy
Lace & Embroidery Industry History
Beloved Linens Textile Diary: Lace
Quilts
A Visual Guide to Vintage & Antique Quilt Patterns
2 pages of quilt guides
Hart Cottage Quilt Resource (lots of info)
Tablecloths:
Collector's Guide To Vintage Tablecloths
Vintage Table Cloths Club Resource List
Lace, Fabrics and Textiles Burn Test/Chart & Storage:
Fiber Burn Test & Chart
Ditzy Prints Fiber Burn Chart
Fabrics.net-Fabric Identification
Storage of Antique & Vintage Textiles
ABC's of Storing Antique & Vintage Textiles
(Also see cleaning and restoration links, above in Clothing)
Zippers:
The Zipper
Steel Zipper-Guide To Vintage Clothing Zippers
Fascinating facts @ the invention of the
zipper
GENERAL VINTAGE AND ANTIQUES:
General:
Collectible Detective: Useful Links, Grouped by Area of Interest
Collectibles Museums-Online Exhibits
Worthpoint-Various Article on Antiques & Collectibles
Marks & Signatures on Antiques and Collectibles
Old and Sold: useful info, grouped by area of interest
Antique Marks Reference
Antique Marks GLOSSARY of terms
Styles by Era:
Mid Century Design
Modish
Victorian Era Design
Victoriana- the Victorian Era Online
Art:
Big Eye Art
Autographs:
Kathryn's Autographs Guide
Animal Figurines:
Hagen-Renaker Gallery
Avon:
Robin's FYI: Avon Collecting
Bakelite, Lucite, Celluloid, Early Plastics, Tortoise Shell, Ivory & Bone:
Ivory & Bone
Ivory, Bone, or Plastic: A guide to identifying Ivory & Substitutes
Plastics
Bakelite, Lucite, Celluloid & Catalin Info, History & ID
Sassyclassics Bakelite/Celuloid Test
Tortoise Shell
Tortoiseshell Real or Fake: How to Tell the Difference
Britshblades Forum-Identifying Tortoise Shell
Canequest: Tortoiseshell or Bakelite?
Beads/Jet:
Jet
Beadinpath-Jet Beads: Collectible Jewels w/Links to Resources
The Vintage Detective-How to ID Jet & It's (Many) Imitators
Books:
PBA Galleries BiblioBot™, the Instant Appraiser
Hummel Figurines:
History of the Hummel Trademarks
Figurines and Sculptures:
Figurines-Sculptures
Furniture:
How to ID Wood Regularly Used To Make Antique Furniture
Graphic Design:
Gallery of Graphic Design Timeline of Vintage Ads
Halloween:
Vintage Halloween
Jewelry:
Illusion Jewels Researching Costume Jewelry
Costume Jewelry Designers &
Manufacturers Reference & History
Amazing Vintage Jewelry
Vintage Costume Jewelry FAQ
Vintage Costume Jewelry Price Guide
Basic Hallmarks and how to test metals
Basic Hallmark Identification by Christie Romero
LaceyWest Gold and Precious Metal Testing with Acids
How to Check for Gold
Precious Metals in Jewelry, Military Insignia
Encyclopedia of American Silver Marks
Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks & Makers' Marks (w/Q&A Forum)
Mexican Silver Marks
Dangles ID & Other
Comprehensive Glossary of Jewelry-Related Terms
Photographs – Antique and Vintage:
Date an Old Photograph-Roger Vaughan Picture Library
Worthpoint-Dating Vintage Photographs 1840-1900 PartI
Pottery, Glass, Porcelain, China, Tupperware:
Collectors Circle-Bohemian Porcelain & Glass Collection Reference Site
Collectors Circle-Bohemian Information & History
Collectors Circle-Bohemian, Czechoslovakian & Ceský Porcelain Factory Marks Pt I of IV
Marks & Signatures on Antiques and Collectibles
Figurines-Sculptures China and Pottery Marks ID
Porcelain Marks and More: German and East European porcelain marks
Old and Sold: 22 pages of French Pottery marks
Old and Sold: 41 pages of antique pottery marks, alphabetical
Old and Sold: Guide To Pottery & Porcelain Marks
Efineantiques: Fine Porcelain and other marks
Efineantiques Q & A
Comfortable Style FAQ: antique and vintage pottery and porcelain
Antique Marks, Pottery & Porcelain
Antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain
(export marks are normally in English, often with English sounding patterns and brand names)
Gothenborg Antique Chinese & Japanese Porcelain Collector's Help & Info Page
Bottles and Jars, Electrical Insulators
Antique Bottles Forum & Resources
How to Date Ball Fruit Jars
Glass Factory Marks on Bottles and Electrical Insulators
Glass
Depression Glass Price Guide by Pamela Wiggins
Suzie Max Guide to 40s, 50s & 60s Depression Glass
Early American Pattern Glass Identification
Early American Pattern Glass 1850 to 1910 (This site offers history and lessons)
Brilliant Glass Identification
Pattern Glass-Victorian Toothpick Holders
Glass Encyclopedia
Limoges Boxes and Porcelain
Marks on Limoges Boxes and Other Porcelains
McCoy Pottery
McCoy Pottery Collectors' Society: Identification Markings
Plates & Fiesta Ware
Platefinders
Replacements
Fiesta® Dinnerware Colors Timeline
Vintage Fiesta Color Guide
Ohio River Pottery Fiesta Markings
Pyrex
Pyrex Love Vintage Pyrex Pattern Guide
Royal Copenhagen
The Art of Dating Royal Copenhagen
Tupperware
Tupper Diva
Plastic Vs. Tuperware, You Decide
Cleaning Tupperware
Flickr Group for Tupperware Collectors
Plastic Tupperware Queen Blog
Vintage and New Tupperware Fun
Luv Tupperware
Radios:
Jim's Antique Radio Museum
Spoons:
Spoon Planet Souvenir Spoons Museum
Toys & Games:
Games Gone By Vintage Board Games
MISCELLANEOUS:
Consumer Price Index Calculator:
To figure out what the price of yesterday would be worth in today’s economics
Federal Reserve Bank Consumer Price Index Calculator
Color Trends Timeline:
Koehler Design Center Color Timeline 1920s-1990s
Antique & Vintage Photographs for Public Domain Use:
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Online Catalog
Vintage Pixels Database of Historical Free-For-Use Images
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Monday, June 15, 2009
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