Collecting small sculpture has its own pleasures and pitfalls, and Artsy has gathered advice from three dealers who sell it every day. The guide, published on 6 November, draws on Raimonda Ameti of Objects With Narratives in Antwerp, Sotiris Sotiriou of COMA in Sydney and Elizabeth Feld of Hirschl and Adler in New York.

The first lesson is to walk around the work. A tabletop sculpture is seen from every side, and the way light moves across its surface matters as much as the form itself. The dealers say the main barrier for new buyers is psychological rather than financial: as Sotiriou puts it, the obstacle is confidence rather than price. Feld is blunter, noting that many people are simply afraid of knocking things over.

Materials come next. Most small sculptures fall into bronze and cast metal, ceramics, stone, glass, wood or assemblage, and the experts advise checking glaze, surface and firing on ceramics, and asking directly how a piece was made. For budgets, they suggest ceramics and resin by emerging makers, or open editions, under $500, while the $500 to $2,500 range is the most active for serious collectors, offering original ceramics and small bronze editions.

Scale is the practical rule of thumb. A sculpture should occupy roughly a third to half of the depth of the surface beneath it: a 12-inch-deep shelf suits a work with a six-inch footprint, while a 36-inch coffee table looks best with a piece about a foot wide. Above all, Feld advises, buy the best quality work you can afford at any given moment.