Whenever we're in an antiques store, we find ourselves drawn to old picture frames, which are invariably stacked in a cobwebby corner beckoning us to paw through them. Often what we come across are rickety rectangles beyond repair. On occasion, though, we hit upon a real find - a Victorian-era gilded frame or a rustic wooden one with hand-carved Arts and Crafts details - for as little as $100.

A Craft With a Past
Frames not only protect paintings from dust and the warping that results from temperature changes, they also focus the eye and, when gilded, reflect light onto an image. The earliest American frames date to the Federal period (1775--1830) and were copies of European designs made from pattern books filled with Neoclassical motifs. Many were carved wood, but most had wood substrates decorated with a pliable substance that hardens like plaster, called compo. Craftsmen would cover the wood or compo surface with gesso, a paste of glue and chalk, before applying gold leaf.

By the 1860s, the Industrial Revolution allowed companies to mass-produce elaborate gilded compo frames for a growing middle class hungry for the showy styles of the European aristocracy. But with mass production also came shoddy workmanship and overly elaborate decoration. In reaction, influential designers such as Charles Eastlake, an Englishman, urged a return to simplicity and craftsmanship. Eastlake's burnished and ebonized wood frames with incised, rather than raised, ornamentation were an instant hit in America. After the turn of the 20th century, artists and collectors began to design picture frames in concert with the paintings they held, simplifying them so they would be less distracting. And in a nod to the Arts and Crafts movement, studios turned out frames with hand-carved details, exposed joinery, and gold leaf applied directly over the wood to highlight variations in the grain. Artists such as James McNeil Whistler and Frederic Edwin Church took to framing their own work, experimenting with subtleties in the gilding process to make the frames harmonize with their paintings.

Handcrafting was also a signature of folk-art frames from the early and mid 1900s. Among the most collectible are those made by itinerant artisans. These"Tramp Art" frames were typically constructed with tools and materials readily at hand, such as pocketknives and discarded wood cigar boxes. Also in the folk tradition are marquetry frames with inlaid wood patterns, and Adirondack - or rustic-style frames, which feature leaf-and-twig motifs.

What to Look For
When assessing a frame's condition, first check the corners. Early American frames tend to have simple miter joints held together with nails and glue. Some later frames have lap joints, which are less prone to separating because intersecting moldings are cut away to half-thickness and lock together like puzzle pieces. On the back of the frame look for signs of age, such as hand-hammered nailheads; in rare cases a frame might be signed by its maker. Solid-wood frames with their original finish are more desirable than refinished ones. "Gilded frames should have the same reflective quality as an old gold wedding band," says Eli Wilner, who owns an antique-frames gallery in New York City. Like many dealers, Wilner encourages people to e-mail him images to find out if an old frame is worth professional restoration (for every 100 frames he looks at, he might find one treasure, worth as much as $20,000).

But a little wear adds to a vintage frame's appeal. One with an aged finish can make a sketch or black-and-white photograph look like an heirloom. Put a few together and it looks like you've been collecting for years.