A visit with Bill Jackson and Alex Przygoda at Jackson Galleries
by Karl Kilguss

I flew into Lexington on a Wednesday. Just a one-day visit to get the whole story on Jackson Galleries and their authentication process. Realistic? Not really, But I was given more information over the following 8 hrs than I had previously thought would be possible. Of course, there have been several follow-up phone conversations since to augment the visit as well. I learned a few things along the way, and I hope the readers will too.

For starters, Bill and Alex are two very different personalities, which somehow seem to blend together surprisingly well. Not once during my visit was there any hint of friction between the two, which if you consider the amount of time they spend together would seem impossible. When Alex was 10, Bill married his mother, Donna, who was also Bill's high-school sweetheart. Both had been married before, perhaps Bill a few extra times as I belive 6 was a best guess by Alex. But that is all ancient history now.

With Bill, the first thing you notice is a magnetic charisma. The kind that makes whatever someone like that is doing seem like something you would like to be doing too. It draws you in effortlessly and you genuinely enjoy his company. Bill has been active in this hobby since the 1960's. Spanning 5 decades, his enthusiasm remains undiminished. That's an incredible thing.

This may help explain how it was Alex grew into a fascination with artifacts, but his contributions to the work they do are on several fronts. It was Alex who computerized Jackson Galleries beginning when he was 12 years old. He designed all the web pages and COA forms and created all the internal tracking programs for the entire business. He is not merely integrating into the process, but is a driving force in its evolution. That is the first thing you realize about their process of authentication. It is ever evolving into new arenas. Alex equates it to a tool-box in which tools are constantly being added when found to be applicable and of significant value. The basic approach is like a framework within which experience, research, innovation and technology are constantly pushing the thresholds of authentication itself.

This has always been their style. It was Bill Jackson who first introduced using microscopes in examining artifact in the early 1990's. Today, I cannot think of a major authenticator who does not use one. Using magnification, he was able to discover characteristics on the surface of artifacts, which seemed to fit into classification patterns that were generally recognizable. By 1995 he had developed what is called the analysis of "Post-Depositional Surface Modification," or the PDSM method.

PDSM recognizes that artifacts are always found in 3 basic environment: Shelter, Water and Field..........

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