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Dear List: About a year or so ago when pigs were still flying all over the list, someone started a thread about hobbies and people began to post about theirs. I was probably even less tolerant of non-pd posts then than I am now but I couldn't resist joining in with my own avocation which is collecting Wedgwood ceramics. Others expressed some interest in Wedgwood (Barb, Will, Nita, Camilla) and I was able to answer a few questions before someone complained that the list was being put to improper use. Today of course, that complainer would be invited to go soak his/her head but in the 'old' days there seemed to be more sensitivity to that kind of complaint (except of course with regard to pigs which trumped any complaint). At least I felt some sensitivity and was constrained to stop posting about Wedgwood after the first complaint. Today's more permissive attitude prompts me to reawaken the hobby/avocation thread with two items. First, I am open to questions about Wedgwood and ceramics in general. For that matter, I have a general knowledge of many things antique (paintings, furniture, lamps) and because of what I will tell you about my second item, a smattering of knowledge and the ability to research almost anything antique from swords to tin soldiers to toy trains. I work part time as a stringer for a website which reports antique auction results on the site for commercial purposes; that is, in order to fully utilize the site's resources, one would have to pay a relatively modest sum for a subscription. Many collectors, appraisers, auction gallery catalogers and antique dealers do just that. When they do, they gain access to approximately 30,000 auction records in almost 1000 categories with the number f posted records growing each day. HOWEVER... it is not necessary to spend ANY money to get a shallow (as opposed to in depth) look through the site. Merely by registering as a 'visitor' (no financial data or credit card info required to register) one can look at 5 records in any (or all) if you're so inclined, of the categories. So if you are a pottery and porcelain person, put your favorite in the search window and see what's sold at auction recently. If you like arts and crafts furniture put in 'stickley' or 'limbert' or 'lifetime'; if lamps, try 'handel', 'tiffany', or 'bradley and hubbard'; if art try 'sloan' , ''wiggins', 'roesen'; or scroll down the list of available subjects and when you find one or more which piques your interest, call up the auction records. And keep in mind that on this shallow 5 result level, it's free. Go to WWW.pricesforantiques.com (alternative www.p4a.com). I write this not just for the collectors on the list but for those on the list for whom auction going may no longer be an option. Paul H. Lauer