The trouble with deleting descriptors from a catalog is that the "simple"
decision to identify something as "ironstone" can be very subjective. We are
dealing with people and they have all sorts of limitiations: eyesight, sense of
feel, color blindness, and just poor training or weariness. People can toss
white pottery sherds into different piles, depending on the time of day, angle of
the sun, power fluctuation in the electircal system, and varying training
background. To test this, I arranged for several contractors to analyze
collections of white pottery and then compared the results; different sortings. Forcing
lab people to distinguish attributes improves your chances for consistency in
sorting at the lab. The one exception, of course, is if you do the entire
collection yourself.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.