Dear Lee,

Collecting is strange. Sometimes, something just insists that you buy it. The first insistent antique I remember was a silver dollar-sized brass container that had a compass inside. We were in the car, about an hour from a dinner party. When we got there, Ralph dropped me off, said “Try to explain why I will be late,” drove back to the shop, bought the compass, and missed half of the evening. There were other unexpected stops. We finally accepted that some things just must go home with us, and we must buy them when we see them.

And sometimes it takes years to learn the history of something that insisted to be bought. The front of Kovels’ Buyers’ Guide to Modern Ceramics pictures a modern turquoise blue vase. It cost $15 and the only clue to the maker was a paper label. We were working on our first pottery guide and we knew Raymor, the name on the label, was a store with great 1950s things. Last week, I was doing an internet image search for another 1950s blue vase. There was my Raymor. Now, I finally know it was made by Bitossi, a company started in 1921 in Florence, Italy. The blue glaze called “Rimini Blu” was created in 1959. It’s still being used. The company also makes the same shapes in other bright colors.

Our vase has been copied using a mold. Original ones, like ours from the 1950s to 1970s, were decorated by hand. The old finish is rough because bits of clay, scratched away while making the indented design, are stuck to the edges. One expert says small spots with no glaze are a good sign, they are where bits of clay broke off. Old pieces are unmarked or marked over the glaze. New ones have the impressed Bitossi name, crest and, of course, “Made in Italy.” But beware. The blue glaze has been so popular it has been copied by other factories. My 7 1/2-inch-high Raymor-Bitossi vase now sells for $50 to $100.