There is a lot of antique furniture available on the market, with auctions, dealers, markets and private sellers offering plenty of opportunities to find a beautiful and valuable antique. However, there are also a lot of reproductions around, which can fool you if you dont know what to look out for when it comes to authentic antique furniture.
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Just because something looks antique doesnt mean that it is, with numerous styles of furniture becoming popular at different times, resulting in lookalikes flooding the marketplace. Knowing what the differences are likely to be between an antique and a reproduction can help you avoid paying more for furniture that isnt actually antique.
Here are a few things you should look out for when purchasing antique furniture.
The high cost of expensive woods often means that antique furniture is made of multiple types of woods. Furniture makers would use cheaper wood varieties in areas that wouldnt be seen as much in order to keep costs down while still delivering beautiful furniture.
You can often tell the difference between an antique and a reproduction by checking the back, underneath or drawer interiors to see if a secondary type of wood was used. This will be identifiable by differences in colour and grain.
If all the wood used to build the piece is the same or parts of the furniture is made with a manufactured wood - such as plywood - it is unlikely to be an antique.
Dovetailing is a furniture manufacturing technique that has been used for centuries to join different parts of a piece of furniture together. Youll often find it on the sides of cabinets and drawers, for example, giving you a good idea of the furnitures age.
If no dovetailing is present, the furniture was most likely made using modern techniques. However, dovetailing was also used in many pieces of reproduction furniture. Check to see whether lines and edges are perfectly straight and even in any dovetailing you find. If there are irregularities, this will mean the dovetailing was done by hand, so the furniture is likely antique. Perfectly straight lines will have been cut by a machine, meaning mass production.
The condition of the wood can tell you a lot about the age of your furniture. You might think that furniture without marks and with even carvings is what you want, but this often means that the furniture isnt antique at all.
Looking out for totally consistent colour, mouldings or carvings that are too perfect to be done by hand, a lack of patina and modern screws all point to furniture being newer. Older furniture will likely have more irregularities due to being handmade.
Antique furniture also tends to showcase signs of shrinking, which can lead to splits and seam separation. This can mean that circular tables are no longer perfectly circular and furniture is slightly wonky, which is a good thing when it comes to identifying real antiques.
A good sign that a piece of furniture is, in fact, an antique is some form of makers mark. Search for any labels, stamps or manufacturing tags underneath or on the back of furniture, or in the drawers. These marks will be able to tell you who made the furniture, where it was manufactured and often the year that it was made.
If there is a label, look for signs of ageing as they can be faked. Its also worth noting that some reproduction pieces - especially those made in the s - have mass-produced tags or labels on, which also show that the furniture is not old.
When a piece of furniture is old, it will likely have signs of wear and tear. Whether its a chip somewhere, a few dents, some repairs or aged drawer runners, these small signs will tell you whether a piece of furniture has been used for decades.
However, wear and tear are often faked for reproduction furniture to make pieces look older than they are. You can still tell the difference though, as reproduction furniture tends to have consistent signs of wear, which wouldnt happen naturally. If the signs of wear all look the same or are consistent along an entire section of the furniture, it is likely to be a reproduction.
If youre still not sure whether your furniture is a genuine antique or a reproduction, it is a good idea to have it appraised by an expert. They know what to look for to be able to tell you if it is an antique, as well as what the furniture is worth.
DETERMINING THE AGE OF ANTIQUES IS HALF THE FUN! LEARN 10 SPECIFIC STEPS TO ESTABLISHING AN ACCURATE AGE FOR YOUR ANTIQUE FURNITURE
A single piece of antique furniture is more than a collection of nails, boards, and wood stain. Antique furnishings can tell a story one that may only exist in the imagination of the lucky person acquiring the piece. Some popular antiques are quite well documented and may be tied to a specific time period in history making an age determination quite simple. Other furnishings arent as easy to date. Adding to the complexity is the proliferation of copycat builders and modern furniture craftsmen who do an admirable job of cloning authentic antique furniture right down to the tool marks and date stamps.
Determining the age of antique furniture is the first step in establishing a proper valuation, as well as verifying that the piece is indeed an authentic furnishing from the era in question. There is some detective work to be done if you want to really ensure that the antique is real, and a qualified inspector should be hired if you're spending any appreciable sum of money. Until then, following these steps will help you determine an approximate age of nearly any piece of antique furniture:
STEP ONE: EXAMINE THE INSIDE, BACK, AND BOTTOM SURFACES OF THE FURNITURE:
These less obvious areas of the antique will provide clues as to whether the wooden components were cut using traditional methods like handsaws and planes, or whether the pieces were crafted using modern power tools. If rough surfaces, plane scrapes, and tool marks are evident inside the piece of furniture, or on the back or bottom surfaces, you're probably looking at a pre- model.
This is one of the easiest ways to provide a fairly accurate date stamp to any antique. Tool marks and obvious signs of rough cuts are fairly typical with pieces more than 150 years old. That said, it is important to realize that skilled craftsmen are building furniture by hand even today so you'll want to continue to investigate the age of the piece using at least one other method.
STEP TWO: DO ACCESSORY PIECES OR IMPLEMENTS MATCH UP PERFECTLY?
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Before , most drawer knobs, pulls, and implements were made by hand. Feet and chair spindles were also carved individually, so there is no way each one could possibly look identical. When you're trying to determine the age of an antique, take a look at these parts and look for tool marks, slight variances in size and shape, and elongation of round parts (round wood contracts across the grain, resulting in an oval shape after time). While it is possible that an owner replaced the knobs on an antique with more modern units, you'll most likely be able to tell.
STEP THREE: CHECK THE FABRIC
Fabric that is original on your antique can provide serious clues of its age. Online searches for original pictures of your antique can help you match your fabric design to the appropriate era. Don't leave it up to an educated guess; consult a guide that is designed to help you determine the age of your piece.
STEP FOUR: CHECK THE WOOD FOR TYPE AND CUT:
Oak, mahogany, cherry, and walnut are all popular hardwoods that have been used in antique furniture. But, it is important to determine which type of wood is most prevalent in your antique to help determine the age. Oak is highly popular in furniture that dates from to earlier years. Walnut and mahogany were prevalent between the years to , and maple and cherry were common from . Oak enjoyed another 100 years of popularity from to the turn of the 21st century.
Keep in mind, wood components can be replaced and this may affect your ability to determine the exact age of a piece. But, many of the original wood components may have been refinished leaving original paint deep in the wood's pores. An analysis of these pores with a Jeweler's loop can help you determine if the wood was painted, and if so do all of the individual components of the antique furniture match in age?
STEP FIVE: INSPECT THE SCREWS OR NAILS TO HELP DETERMINE AGE:
Screws that look like modern variations that you'd find in the local home improvement store have no place on antiques that date from before circa . In fact, screws in general didn't really come into vogue until the turn of the 20th century. The first machine made screw was produced in , so anything that uses a complete set of screws that appear to be machine turned will most likely date from circa- and later. Screws that appear handmade and quite individual most likely help date the piece from the early 's to the mid to late 's.
STEP SIX: CHECK THE DATE AND MANUFACTURER'S STAMP:
Manufacturers have been stamping their wares for centuries. Look for authentically worn or distressed stamps or manufacturer burn marks. These are an often overlooked method of determining the age of an antique the builder is telling you when it was constructed! Youll want to take a look at the address listed on the production tag. Many fakes list a full address for the builder, including 5-digit zip codes. The problem is, 5-digit zip codes have only been around for about fifty years! Often, manufacturers from 100 years ago would simply state New York or Pennsylvania. Sometimes theyll denote the city in which it was built.
STEP SEVEN: INSPECT THE FINISH:
Lacquer has been applied to wood furniture for centuries, and if the piece you're inspecting claims to have the original finish, you may be able to date the piece quite easily. Real lacquer changes color after time. Once lacquer hits the century mark it tends to turn quite dark. If your piece is seeing this darkening effect, you're safe to assume that the piece is at least 100 years old. Combining this dating process with several other techniques will help you make an accurate age determination.
STEP EIGHT: CHECK DRAWER CONSTRUCTION AND INSPECT DOVETAILS
Dovetails have long been a popular method for attaching two pieces of wood at a 90-degree angle often seen in drawer construction. Until , dovetails were carved using a chisel and a hammer. It wasn't until this time that sophisticated jigs and cutters were built to automate this process. This is one of the quickest and most definitive ways to accurately determine the age of an antique piece of furniture.
STEP NINE: DETERMINE THE STYLE OF THE PIECE:
Here's where you'll want to consult a respected publication to determine if an antique falls into a specific historical era that was characterized by certain furniture designs. If it is an American piece you'll want to see if it falls into the Colonial category or maybe it is a Chippendale or William and Mary design? Possibly, you have a Federal or American Empire piece. Several good books covering early American furniture history are available online or at local bookstores.
STEP TEN: HIRE AN EXPERT!
If you think that you have something really valuable on hand, or you just want to make sure that you have the best estimate as to the age of an antique hire an expert! Sure, they'll probably use many of the same methods that we've discussed, but their knowledge of antiques and dating methods are critical in determining a pieces most accurate age.
The most expensive antique furniture piece sold in recent years was a Badminton cabinet that was crafted during the Medici years in Florence. It took six years and thirty craftsmen to construct and was sold for £19 million ($31 million). While you may not have an example as extreme as that sitting in your garage, you never know what you may unearth as you determine the age and value of your antique. That is what makes this field so exciting for newcomers and veterans alike.
REFERENCES:
http://antiques.about.com/od/furniture/a/Determine-Age-Of-Antique-Furniture.htm
http://valuereview.com/index.php/articlesnewsletters/articles/65-dating-furniture
http://www.antiquetalk.com/index.php/antique-talk/100-recognizing-age-and-construction-in-antique-furniture
http://www.oldplank.com
http://www.decoratum.com/blog//07/top-10-most-expensive-antiques-ever-auctioned
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