Mistakes are nature’s way of telling us we aren’t as smart as we think we are. Every comeuppance we’re forced to endure teaches us a valuable if sometimes expensive lesson. But compared with college, an education in the practical school of buying, collecting and reselling is a bargain.

If the Grim Reaper had to earn a living like the rest of us, he’d probably become an auctioneer. He would trade his hood for a snappy-looking hat and his scythe for a gavel. He would preside over the demise of businesses, and as each asset passed the block his gavel would sound like thunder as he proclaimed “Sold!”

Every area of special interest has its own vocabulary and words of common usage. The area of antiques certainly falls in this category with some of its more obscure terms like recamier and bergere. But there are also a number of terms that are quite common in the industry and among these common terms are a significant number that are commonly misused, misspelled or misunderstood.

Ask Antique Trader: Anne Gilbert answers reader questions about their antiques. This week: Want a pickle? Take a look at this blue cut glass relish stand

At my last show, I bought a shoebox full of baseball cards from a guy who wandered into my booth. I have enclosed a photo of a sample. It’s something I don’t normally deal in. How can I check the age and value?

Barbara Eash answers Antique Trader reader questions about their antiques.

Anne Gilbert, The Antiques Detective, answers Antique Trader readers' questions about their antiques.

This Lladro figurine of a nun is in perfect condition and 10 inches high. What could I expect to sell it for?

Have you ever seen a quaint piece of furniture? One that could be defined as charmingly odd in an old-fashioned sort of way, unfamiliar and unusual but not completely foreign? That could probably describe a number of pieces you have seen, but the word “quaint” never exactly occurred to you to use in describing it.