Well...I'm not sure it's a "set". Certainly the lamps and the perfumes are not the same pattern, the tray is metal of some sort? And I wonder about the powder box or ring keeper jar. What does it look like with the lid off? It doesn't look like the lid is a match to the bottom. The pieces are Deco in feel, I believe the lamps are late 1920's...the bottles perhaps later. The lamps ought to sell for between 60 and 120 for the pair. You may see things like that for sale for more....but the secret is getting someone to buy them for that. The perfumes ought to bring another $50 to $75....don't know about the jar... The tray looks just like a tarnished metal tray? Is it silver? Plate? What? Is it marked? If you are lucky and willing to sell it in bits and pieces, you ought to be able to get about $200 out of all of the things. Linda C

I urge you to stay away from price guides until you have a grounding in antiques! Price guides tend to prevent people from learning, thus are inadvisable until later. Stick with identification guides. I don't know any general id guides-they're mostly focussed on one area-but if you already have an interest start with that. Like lindac stated, you have to handle stuff. Find a reputable dealer and learn what you can. A good dealer will treat you very well, and never make you feel bad for not already knowing stuff. If a dealer acts suspicious of you or is secretive, find someone else. A truly reputable dealer is happy to help you learn. This dealer will be able to suggest references that support your interests, too. Join an antiques association. Local groups are often open to collectors and are a nice way to network and get the chance to handle antiques. These people will be a better source of price information than price guides. They already know the local market, which may be quite different to a price guide's mid-range figures taken from selected venues covering a huge territory. Subscribe to trade publications. If you're lucky there is a trade paper in your region or locality. Read it. It doesn't hurt to read some of the national and international publications either. These are your sources of current information. Learn about not just what you like, but know the social, political, and economic climate of the time in which it was made. The history is vital to understanding just why this was made with this material-for example, the history of porcelain manufacture in Europe began with a young man who'd marketed himself as an alchemist. He was taken to Augustus and kept under a sort of house arrest until he produced gold from base metal. Of course he didn't! The king's fancy turned to the porcelains imported from China-and wanted porcelain. Our alchemist now made effort to produce porcelain. Several years later, after trying and discarding many mineral additives to various mixtures of clays, he found the very substance in the earth that gave clay its rock-hard, vitreous, and translucent properties after firing-porcelain. These early porcelain objects gave rise to Meissen porcelains, still some of the world's most sought after antiques. Today, those earliest fired objects are worth tens of thousands! True porcelain was not manufactured in England until rather later-and its own story is nearly as fanciful. You won't get that information from a price guide. Learn to authenticate first, then worry about values. Another concern that price guides fail to address is your local market. You need to know just what your market is-what does your region demand in antiques and collectibles, and how much are people willing to pay for those items? Honestly, this all sounds like a lot but it's far more enjoyable to stroll into the saleroom with a practiced eye and pay what you're comfortable paying than it is to not know what's on the block and fearing that you'll pay too much or that other people will be laughing at you for bidding!

Thanks for the thread, Senator. Interesting pictures, though the "leathered" counters look same as honed in the pictures. Guess as some said, you have to see it in person. Babs, yes, there would probably be minimal eating at the island, we tend to sit at the table for family meals and serve buffet style, so food is plated before sitting down, and the island would only be used occasionally--probably mostly for guests having a beverage and sitting and chatting with me while I work in the kitchen. I've become a "compulsive placemat user" with my polished Antique Brown in the other kitchen's similarly used island, so feel well-trained to minimize accidents with the marble. For whatever occurs, I am prepared to embrace, and I think any etches will be minimally noticeable, given the honed surface, and the lighting situation in the room. Worst-case, I think a freestanding island would be relatively easy to refinish, though I think I would just let it patina naturally. I should have mentioned that the island with marble will be a secondary island, and the main work area of the kitchen will have a small island with the same countertop as the perimeter. In thinking about how my family uses our kitchen, I think the most potential for etching would be with food prep rather than the occasional eating at the secondary island. I see your logic though, for a kitchen where the island is frequently used for dining, there would be just as much risk of etching as on the other countertops.

fripper, I really hadn't done anything when I took those pics of it in my porch, other than to wipe off dust with a damp paper towel. Those pics of it inside the porch were taken at dusk, which probably makes a difference in the way the color appears. I have since put a bit of Butcher's wax on the top surface of the lower part, and that is all I'll do to the whole thing. That patina just comes with its age. I'm actually growing used to it in the porch, and I like it with the wallpaper in there. It may stay there for a little while. I THINK I may have captured some of the wavy glass in this pic. If you look at the left pane of glass, it's reflecting my garage trim outside. See how the off-white appears distorted? IRL, the clapboards do too, but I just can't capture it , being a very novice photographer. There are a few tiny bubbles in the glass, too.