Patine: Antique Identifier

Photograph an antique. See what pieces like it have actually sold for at auction — with the auction house, the month, the price, and a link so you can go and check for yourself. Most apps in this category show you a confident dollar figure and no way to verify it. Patine is built on the opposite rule: Never show a number without showing where it came from. When we don't know, say so, and say what would make us know. WHAT YOU GET FROM ONE PHOTOGRAPH • What the object is — maker, origin, period, material • A value range, never a single figure, with the real sold lots underneath it • Each lot's auction house, the month it sold, the hammer price, and a link to that lot • How confident the identification is — and when it isn't sure, which photograph would settle it WHEN THERE IS NO ANSWER, IT SAYS SO Sold auction prices are genuinely hard to come by. There will be objects Patine cannot price. When that happens it does not invent a plausible number — it says no sold auction lots were close enough, keeps the identification it can stand behind, and hands you search terms to take elsewhere. That screen is the least commercial thing in the app and the one we would point at first. READ THE MARK British hallmarks are four or five punches the size of a grain of rice, and they carry the standard, the assay town, the year and the maker. Patine has a separate mode that opens straight into a close-up and reads them, and flags models that are frequently reproduced with what to check. It is also why the app asks for a second photograph and then stops asking. Across our own test set, confidence improved on 30 of 43 objects photographed with a close-up of the mark, against 6 of 14 with extra photographs and no mark. Two frames is what earns its keep. THREE WAYS TO READ ONE SCAN • Archive — what it is, and what it has sold for • Market — what people are asking for one on eBay today, labelled as asking prices, because nobody has paid those • Profit — buy, think or pass, with the arithmetic out loud: the estimate, the asking price, the selling fees, and what is left It will not say BUY on fewer than three sold lots. Below that there is no market to speak of, only an anecdote. YOUR COLLECTION Everything you scan is saved with its photographs, its evidence and your own notes. Folders, search, and a listing draft you can paste where you sell. PRICING, WITH THE NUMBERS PRINTED Three complete appraisals free — the full result and the full evidence, nothing blurred and nothing truncated. The paywall does not appear until you have seen the third one in full. • Yearly $39.99, after a 3-day free trial — unlimited appraisals • One week $6.99 — 50 appraisals Both renew automatically until you cancel. That 50 is printed on the paywall before you buy, not buried in the terms. Cancel in two taps, and the app shows you where. No review gate, ever. Estimates and research, not certified appraisals. For probate, insurance or anything with a legal consequence, the answer is a qualified appraiser with the object in their hands. Patine is built to help you decide whether that call is worth making. Terms of use: https://getpatine.com/terms Privacy policy: https://getpatine.com/privacy