researching pots

I don't know about you , but it's so difficult trying to get info on any pots that are not in books , museums are garbage at giving out info and palm you offf with a standard we are busy letter ( yeah! right , really busy = we don't have a scooby doo) , the twats on the telly are the same nottaklu , go back only 100yrs and everything grinds to a halt , how can they give provenace at these auctions etc ?

Apparently the big thing atm is old auction catalogues. If you've got any old auction catalogues, or can get them cheap then they are a good source for id-ing ceramics. Unfortunately, studio and provincial pottery (aside from Tomas Toft slipware and Delft) wasn't in fashion decades ago so the liklihood of finding some amongst all the Spode and Wedgwood and Dresden is fairly small.