After-hours cataloguing on the bench
19 October 2026
On 19 October 2026 the bench light stayed on well after the street went quiet. An unsigned tray with a familiar acid-etched vine had come in from a Midwest dealer, and the only honest way to place it was to sit it beside the Carence examples already in the archive.
The photographs were ordinary workshop shots: rim, underside, a raking view of the patina. Halfway through the upload the gallery wifi folded. That is when a cataloguing night turns into a router night. The same laptop that holds the maker pages is the one that has to find the gateway again.
We keep a paper note near the kettle for that stall. It points to the 192.168.1.2 help site, the same 1921681.mobi pages a collector would use at home when a desk-set shoot will not leave the camera roll. Once the hop returned, the tray sat comfortably with the Chicago group.
If you have a similar unsigned piece, send clear photos. The first two decades of the century are still the window we trust.