Antiques Genie Launches Free Online Antique Identification Service

New antiques website combines visual identification, research tools and practical services for collectors, dealers and anyone curious about an old object

Antique owners have a new place to turn when they find themselves asking one of the most common questions in the antiques world: What is this?

Antiques Genie, a new online service at AntiquesGenie.com, has launched with a free visual identification service designed to give users a quick starting point for researching antiques and collectibles.

Visitors can upload a photograph of an object and receive an identification that may include the type of object, approximate date, style, material, possible maker or culture, and other useful clues. The service is free to use and is intended for both experienced antiques enthusiasts and people who simply happen to own something they would like to know more about.

The idea behind Antiques Genie is straightforward: make antiques research easier and more accessible.

For generations, identifying an unfamiliar antique could mean searching through reference books, visiting libraries, consulting dealers, attending shows, or spending hours trying to find a comparable object online. The Internet has placed an extraordinary amount of information within reach, but that information is scattered across auction archives, museum collections, dealer inventories, historical references and countless other sources.

Antiques Genie is being developed as a way to help bring those pieces together.

Start With a Free Identification

The free identification service is intended to provide an immediate first look at an object.

A user uploads a photograph, and Antiques Genie examines visible characteristics such as form, decoration, materials and construction to develop an initial identification.

The result is not intended to replace physical examination by a qualified specialist, particularly when authenticity or significant value is involved. Instead, it provides something often equally important at the beginning of the process: a useful direction in which to continue the search.

That can turn an unidentified “old vase,” for example, into a much more productive search involving a particular period, material, region or style.

For many users, that may be all the information they need.

For others, it is only the beginning.

Going Beyond Identification

Antiques Genie is being built as a broader research and information service for antiques and collectibles.

Its Detailed Research service takes a closer look at an object using multiple photographs and information supplied by the owner, including dimensions, marks, condition and provenance when available. Research can incorporate comparable objects and other evidence to develop a more complete assessment.

Additional services are planned around the practical questions antique owners frequently encounter after identification, including valuation and assistance preparing objects for sale in online marketplaces.

The goal is to create a useful progression.

First determine what an object is. Then learn more about it. If necessary, determine what it may be worth. And, when the owner wants to sell it, help turn that research into information that can actually be used.

For Collectors — and the Curious

Antiques Genie is not intended only for professional dealers or serious collectors.

Many antiques discoveries begin much more casually.

Someone inherits a box of family possessions. A homeowner discovers an object in an attic. A shopper finds something unusual at an estate sale. A collector encounters an unfamiliar mark. A dealer wants a second research perspective.

Sometimes the object is valuable. Often it is not. But the history can still be interesting.

That curiosity is a large part of what Antiques Genie is intended to serve.

Antiques and collectibles represent centuries of changing technology, craftsmanship, fashion, commerce and everyday life. Even relatively modest objects can tell a story about when and where they were made and the people who used them.

A New Tool for an Old Business

Artificial intelligence is beginning to change the way information can be gathered and interpreted across many industries, and antiques are no exception.

The challenge is not simply recognizing an image. Good antiques research requires comparing multiple characteristics, evaluating conflicting evidence and recognizing when a visual resemblance is meaningful — and when it is merely superficial.

Antiques Genie is being developed specifically around that problem.

Its purpose is not to make every object important or valuable. It is to help users make better sense of the evidence that is available and give them a practical place to begin.

And in keeping with its name, the experience is meant to be a little more enjoyable than searching through page after page of unrelated results.

As the site puts it:

“Your antique is our command.”

The free identification service is available now at AntiquesGenie.com.