The one universal activity in the antiques world is pricing. Collectors make price judgments every time they buy. Dealers consider price when they buy and again when they offer for sale. Conservators judge value when deciding how much work is justified.
Appraisers live prices.
A lot of information was found by searching the World Wide Web for items comparable to the item being priced. The Web has grown enormously in the intervening 16 months. There are many more on-line antiques shops carrying more and better merchandise, and the standards for illustration and description have risen. The Maine Antique Digest 's on-line prices database has grown to over 12,000 items, and Ralph and Terry Kovel have taken the first steps toward putting the information in their printed price guides on line . Also, a new phenomenon has appeared, the Web auction, which can also yield price information.