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Posted by Chris under Furniture Commentary on October 16, 2009.

So you may be in the market for antique furniture, but there are often good reasons for buying a reproduction. My last post on reproductions prompted a conversation with a friend of mine about whether buying reproductions at all is a good idea when you can just go for antiques, especially since good, handmade reproductions can sometimes be more expensive than the real thing. So I decided to put together a list of the top three reasons for buying a reproduction instead of an antique:

1. You may want something flawless that looks new but is in an antique style. If it is an actual antique, you're probably looking at forking over a lot of dough. If you wanted an actual Georgian version of this walnut linen press, for instance, I would guess you would need at least $15-20k. A reproduction might set you back only $5k.

2. You may need something that is rare or practically impossible to find. Some dealers, like us for instance, can make anything you can dream up.

3. You may need a suite of matching or similar furniture; depending on what it is you need, this can be quite difficult. Most of the time when someone needs a group of items, they're looking to outfit an office. So you can get your desk, credenza, bookcase and filing cabinet in one place, with the same leather and wood types if you want—and have them all look antique.



Posted by Chris under Furniture Commentary on October 09, 2009.

Walnut serpentine chest of drawers
This is a prime example of a quality reproduction.
A host of fears and misconceptions haunt the idea of reproduction furniture—and in some cases, with good reason. Chinese junk, for instance, has long inundated the U.S. market, and some dealers aren't as honest as English Classics about where their items come from (and of course not all dealers get their stuff from England). But if you know what to look for in a good reproduction, then you don't need to worry too much about where it comes from because, I imagine, quality can come from the most surprising places. (In fact, I predict that as Chinese incomes rise, the burgeoning upper-class will want the same level of quality that wealthy Westerners have come to expect, and there will be a demand for quality right in their own backyards. This will make cheap, quality Chinese furniture a reality.)

For starters, the best way to find out about a piece is to simply ask the dealer. Ask where and when it is made, what it is made of (veneers, underlying materials, hardware metal). If it is finished, ask what kind of finish it is, and how to clean it. Ask what style it is in, whether it is handmade, and where and how the dealer acquired the piece. The answers to these questions will usually serve as good indicators of quality, and they might even get the dealer to lower the asking price.

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