Posts tagged "tips"
Posted by Chris under Furniture Resources on June 03, 2011
Many people ask us for advice on which wood types to choose for their furniture. Basically, which wood you choose depends on the context: mahogany, walnut, yew, and elm, for example, are generally considered more "formal" wood types. Cherry, oak, and especially pine are usually used in country style furniture. However, these are only trends and guidelines—not rules. You can definitely mix different wood types as long as the style of the furniture and the color match (color is determined by the stain, not the wood). Of course, being able to identify wood types certainly helps.
Similar Wood Types
The first of the two following tables is mahogany, and the second is cherry. As you can see, they are both beautiful, formal tables and the wood looks relatively similar (the difference is in the grain). Thus, depending on the style of the pieces that you're dealing with, you can substitute cherry for mahogany and vice versa.
Similar Styles
In contrast, consider the following two tables, which are identical models but have different wood types; the oak table is also hand-planed and distressed, giving it a more country style appearance. Oak is also generally considered to be a "less formal" wood, although whether you'd use an oak table or a walnut table depends entirely on the style of your home and the furniture within it.
A Little Banding Goes a Long Way
Adding banding to the edge of a piece can make it look slightly more formal without overdoing it. So, as an example, consider the following two pictures. One shows plain cherry, and the other shows cherry with yew banding. A nice touch, isn't it?
More Common English Woods
Beyond these three basic wood types (cherry, mahogany, and oak), the other two most common woods used in English furniture are elm and yew, which are represented in the following bookcase and cabinet, respectively. Note how they don't really look all that different from the other wood types, at least insofar as color and style are concerned.
In Summary...
The most common English woods are mahogany, cherry, walnut, oak, yew, and elm. Occasionally maple, rosewood, pine, and ash are used; satinwood and rosewood are relatively common inlays. Knowing this can sometimes help identify "fakes" that are represented as genuine English furniture; for example, teak is highly unlikely to be used in English furniture, as it is principally an Asian wood. We hope that we've answered some of your wood type questions. As always, feel free to leave any additional questions and concerns in the comments section below!
Tags: wood, tips
1 comment.
Posted by under Furniture Resources on May 27, 2011
This is a common enough question, but basically there is a standard set of elements to consider when determining whether or not your furniture is antique. Many people make the mistake of looking at one or two details while neglecting the rest, but judging antique furniture is a lot like judging a painting: look at the details, but also take in an overall perspective.
Hardware
For starters, look closely at the hardware—pulls, knobs, hinges, screws, nails, whatever. Does it shine brilliantly or does it look old? Keep in mind that hardware goes in and out of style just like everything else, so a large majority of antique furniture has had its hardware replaced at least once. New hardware can also be made to look antique, so don't draw too hasty of a conclusion: just keep it in mind. Also, if you can find screws (usually visible on the back, if at all), are they Phillips or flat head? Phillips screws are a 20th-century invention, so if your piece is supposed to be from the 18th century but has Phillips screws, they have either been added in a recent restoration or it's a fake.
Drawers
This ties into the hardware issue. If your piece has drawers, take a drawer out and look at how the handles are attached on the inside of the drawer. Nuts are more common for antiques, while screws are a newer convention. Also check to see if the hardware has been replaced: usually there will be marks or holes on the wood around the hardware.
Note whether the drawer has dovetails, and whether they are machine-cut dovetails or hand-cut. Does the back of the drawer have dovetails? This is usually a sign that the piece is indeed antique—and high-quality at that, since rear dovetails are very uncommon even in antiques.
Drawers (and backs) are also usually one of the cheapest components in furniture. Look at the wood used in the drawers. Most modern pieces—even high-quality reproductions that look very genuine on the outside—use plywood in drawer construction. The logic behind this move is simple: why waste expensive, solid wood (which has to be carefully treated and cured) on the inside of a drawer? Plywood, however, is another 20th-century invention, so if you're looking at composite wood and your antique is supposed to be Victorian, then that plywood was either added in a restoration or you've got a reproduction on your hands. Flip the drawer over too, as a true period piece will not only have a solid wood bottom, but that wood will be thick and beveled to fit into the grooves of the frame of the drawer.
Finish
This is an easy one. High gloss finishes and polyurethane are 20th-century elements. Antique furniture was usually shellacked, meaning that it typically had a duller finish. This isn't to say that antique finishes can't be shiny and reflective, but they're not going to be high gloss, either. Shellack finishes were very often quite thick (up to a quarter inch!), so that's another—albeit slightly more difficult—indicator to look for.
Style
This element is a little more nuanced. Basically, if you're serious about knowing whether your piece is antique, compare it to similar pieces that claim to be antique. Search the internet—or look at our inventory, which serves a very good benchmark for what English antiques should look like. Our reproduction furniture also exemplifies what a quality replica looks like, so be sure to learn the differences between good and bad antique imitations. You may also want to look up Asian furniture manufacturers: they usually produce caricatures of English or European styles, so you'll find, for example, that ogee feet become ornate and excessively curved, or you may even find Asian motifs carved into the wood.
Wood
This one has limited application but can be a life saver in some situations. We've already written a great piece on distinguishing between different woods, so you may want to check that out. Basically, however, English furniture is usually mahogany, walnut, oak, pine, yew, or cherry (sometimes with rosewood and satinwood, usually as inlays). In contrast, English furniture is almost never teak, which is a favorite of Asian furniture manufacturers because it is a fast-growing hard wood.
We hope that we've answered your questions, but if anything is lacking, please feel free to post in the comments section below!
Tags: tips
1 comment.
Posted by Chris under Furniture Resources on April 16, 2011
We get this question all the time: "Can you tell me how much my _______ is worth?" Most of the time we have to say no because that's not our expertise. While we can tell you the style and probable origin, your best bet is always to go with a professional appraiser. (We actually discussed this issue in a previous post: How to Determine the Value of Your Antique Furniture.)
Well, we're happy to say that we know of a very good appraiser with a scholarly knowledge of antiques. John Werry at Rare Victorian provides an excellent and thorough appraisal service for just $40! Good luck out there!
Tags: appraisal, tips
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Posted by Chris under Furniture Resources on March 19, 2011
This is a question that we get fairly often. Selling furniture—and especially antiques—can be a very simple process, provided that you know what you're doing and you have the resources to do it. If not, then what is often a pleasant learning experience can turn into a frustrating push to dump unwanted furniture. To help, we've put together a few useful tips that should help avoid this problem.
1. Know the value of your piece. Luckily, we've already written an article on just this subject: How to Determine the Value of Your Antique Furniture.
2. Be patient. We have 15,000 square feet and it's absolutely full of furniture: we can afford to wait if it means getting a fair price on our antiques. Individuals, however, usually don't have the luxury of constantly moving furniture in and out, so it can sometimes feel like an eternity. Depending on the uniqueness, beauty, and price of your piece, it could take several months to sell it...which brings me to my next point.
3. Value and price are never the same thing. For one thing, value is relative: before the recent market crash, antiques were selling at slightly higher prices than they do now, because people expect a deal when times are tough. So even if you do all of the right things and get your antique(s) appraised, you probably won't sell them at the maximum possible value. This is why market research is so important to the selling process: if your piece is just a few hundred dollars lower than the average, you are substantially increasing your odds of selling the piece in a reasonable period of time. But since you determine what is "reasonable," that means striking a balance between how long you want to wait and how much money you want for your piece.
4. Take great pictures and write a great description. In our experience, pictures make a huge impact on whether someone decides to buy or not—especially over the Internet, where a picture is often the only thing the customer has to go on. Likewise, a detailed description of the piece—including, if applicable, history, wear, special features, etc.—can go a long way towards telling the customer that you care about the sale and you know what you're talking about. This is another reason why research is so important, and it's also another of countless examples of the old adage, "Practice makes perfect."
5. Diversify! This is a lot like saying, "Location, location, location." List your piece in as many places as possible: Ebay, Craigslist, GoAntiques, whatever it takes. Of course, dealers have a much wider range of venues to sell their furniture, but that shouldn't keep you from occupying enough marketplaces to make the sale happen. Many of these venues and platforms require listing fees, so this is another example of balance: if you expect to get a lot of money for your antique(s), then you might not mind at all whether you're paying $10/month to maintain your listings. If your piece is cheap, though, you may want to consider minimizing where possible so that you don't wind up selling at a loss.
6. Think about shipping: this is always a big plus, as it opens up new markets. You may not be able to ship yourself, but you can always call blanket wrap delivery companies—which, although expensive, still provide essential services. Ever see a gorgeous antique on Ebay that sells for $150 and doesn't have shipping? That's why. Again, this is one of those issues of balance, but on average, you will fetch a higher price for your piece if you can make it available to the most people possible.
7. Enjoy yourself! Selling furniture is definitely a learning process, but the world of antiques—especially online—is constantly evolving and there is always more to do and more to sell. Good luck out there!
Tags: selling, tips, online furniture
1 comment.
Posted by Chris under Furniture Resources on March 12, 2011
Whether you are looking to sell a recently inherited antique, or whether you'd just like to know how much your furniture is worth, it is always important to know the value of antique furniture. However, acquiring that knowledge can often be the most frustrating part of selling or inheriting furniture, but knowing how to determine value and, more importantly, knowing what value actually is, makes all the difference.
Value is of course relative to market trends, taste, region, time period, who is buying and selling, etc. Still, there remain three general types of value that more or less apply to every circumstance. Under ideal conditions, the retail value describes the highest possible amount that a piece of furniture can sell for—but antiques seldom sell at their maximum value. For dealers, antiques sell most often somewhere between their retail and wholesale value, which is the amount that dealers and designers typically pay one another. Finally, the "quick sale" value describes the lowest possible value that a piece could sell for in a small amount of time while simultaneously maximizing the seller's gains. For instance, if the wholesale value of, say, a particular mahogany bookcase is $500, then the quick sale value might fall somewhere around $300-350. This is the amount that you could expect to receive if you sold this hypothetical bookcase to a dealer or if you lent it on consignment.
If you are serious about selling your furniture and you know it's worth a pretty penny, then we suggest contacting a certified appraiser in your area. Appraisers are the best option for determining the value of your piece, and in addition to offering detailed information about the age, origin, and unique features of your piece, they usually provide the three values described above. However, appraisers also usually cost several hundred dollars, which may not be an option for everyone. Still, if you're confident that you have in your possession furniture of significant value, getting an appraisal is certainly something that you should do as soon as possible. As an added bonus, insurance adjusters often require these appraisals, so if you get one done, make sure that you keep your records in a safe place.
Luckily, there are a number of other ways to determine the value of your antique if you don't want to hire an appraiser. We recommend searching the Internet for similar pieces: try looking on Ebay, GoAntiques, and Ruby Lane. This is often the best way to determine the going market value of your antique—but be sure to pay attention to the seller and, if applicable, their reputation. For instance, someone who has, say, an 800 positive feedback rating on Ebay (or a Top-Rated Seller) will probably have a better idea of the value of their furniture than someone with only a 1 or 2 rating.
We also recommend trying sites like worthpoint.com and auctionwally.com, where you might be able to find an appraisal for your antique in their archives.
Finally, you can try showing your antiques—or pictures of them—to dealers. This approach meets with wildly varying degrees of success, since many dealers will not provide this type of assistance free of charge, while others are happy to share their knowledge. Even so, keep in mind that it is nearly impossible to accurately determine the age, period, origin, or value of a piece without seeing it in person.
We hope that we've answered some of your concerns about evaluating your antique furniture—but as always, if there's more that you'd like to know, please feel free to leave a comment below!
Tags: selling, tips
2 comments.
Posted by Chris under Furniture Commentary on March 01, 2011
Every morning that I come into the office, I sit down and read through our emails with a cup of hot, black coffee. This morning, I opened an email containing what looked like a photograph of avant-garde artwork. When you work in or run an online business, this is the sort of non sequitor that you come to expect when you look through your inbox. Business as usual. But what looked like an impressionist masterpiece was really just an exceptionally blurry secretary in a dim room.
Now, there are all kinds of photography tutorials out there that could amend this problem. However, there are a few additional things that you need to know before sending pictures to a dealer.
1. Ask yourself: what do I want the dealer to see? Is what I want them to see evident in the photograph? Honesty and clarity should be your rule of thumb.
2. Many people send emails containing pictures of items that they'd like to sell. However, even if you send detailed pictures, it is very unlikely that a dealer will be able to assess the value of your piece(s) without seeing them in person. They may be interested in purchasing your item(s) (if they're the type of dealer that buys from unsolicited offers), but they won't really know the value of your furniture until they see it in person. There are all kinds of details that you simply can't assess without physically inspecting every inch of the piece (what types of screws it has, whether it has dovetails, what the insides of the drawers look like, whether there is a maker's mark, etc.).
3. Be courteous. Practice the golden rule by being upfront about your intentions, and don't send what may be an unwanted email. Save yourself potentially wasted time and effort by checking to see if the dealer actually buys from customers, or if they provide appraisal services (which should cost hundreds of dollars in most cases). If they don't have any information on their website, try giving them a call, or send an email asking if they would be interested in helping you out before you send pictures. Also, consider that viruses frequently spread through emails and attachments, so many dealers simply won't read your email or look at your attachment out of security concerns; businesses are pretty big targets for malicious jerks, so help dealers and yourself by giving them a head's up! This level of courtesy may actually trigger a more sympathetic response in the dealer, prompting them to help you more than they otherwise would.
We hope that we've answered some of your potential concerns, but as always, feel free to leave any questions in the comments section below!
Tags: tips, online furniture
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Posted by Chris under Furniture Commentary on February 26, 2011
This is an old topic of debate and I wager that the discussion will never end. However, if you're in the market for quality furniture, you definitely want to know where you stand before settling on a purchase. As with most topics, misinformation is all too common, so I want to clarify a few things. First:
"Veneer" does not necessarily mean "bad."
We cannot emphasize this strongly enough! While I can understand concerns about veneer and preferences for solid wood, it is important to keep in mind the difference between quality veneers and cheap cabinetry. Veneers aren't something that Asian furniture manufacturers invented when they flooded the world with crappy furniture; to the contrary, veneers derive from an old and venerable furniture-making tradition. Back in the Georgian period and beyond, for instance, veneered furniture was considered higher quality, since it took more skill to carefully arrange the expensive veneers over solid wood than it did to slap a few boards together and call it furniture (which still holds true). Cabinetmakers began to use veneers as a way to develop their craft, allowing them to employ a greater variety of techniques using a wider selection of rare wood types, which were so expensive and uncommon—even for the finest furniture—that they were only available in veneers. Even today, the most exquisite wood can only be found in veneers, including burl walnut and flame mahogany. Finally, "inlays" are actually a type of veneer, so if you're looking at anything with wood inlays, you're looking at veneers.
Here are just two examples of high quality veneers over solid wood:
As you can see, the above flame mahogany and satinwood credenza is
not some cheap, Indonesian-made throwaway. Likewise, the obscene variety of exquisite inlays in the above marquetry chest indicate only the finest quality. I may be tooting my own horn at this point, but I want to illustrate not only that 1) veneers can be high-quality, especially in English-made furniture, but also that 2)
some techniques and wood types can only be employed by using veneers. If a veneer splits or cracks, don't blame veneers as such: blame the manufacturer! Veneers as a technique and a material are no more culpable for bad industry practices than solid wood is when wood splits or cracks. Which brings me to my next point:
All solid wood eventually warps, splits, and cracks!
There is even a name for this phenomenon: "age splits" (the idea being that the wood in quality furniture won't split until it has aged). This is why many cabinetmakers, including our own, offer the option of medium-density fiberboard (MDF), which is stronger, denser, and heavier than solid wood—and which also never warps, splits, or cracks. Solid wood, however, has the advantage of being a little easier to repair in the event that a piece sustains damage. Even so, solid wood and veneers are not mutually exclusive categories, so you will often see, as in our own furniture, that solid wood pieces are overlaid with fine veneers. This gives the cabinetmaker much more flexibility with the design and construction, opening up new possibilities for inlays, banding, and other techniques. In all likelihood, furniture that is purely solid wood with no veneers or inlays whatsoever will be rustic or country style, since formal furniture long ago adapted motifs of inlay and banding that are now irreducibly part of the formal furniture tradition.
So, if you're in the market for reproduction or antique furniture, we hope that you can now go forth into the world with good information. Just remember that if you ever touch on a controversy like the one that has erupted on the topic of solid wood and veneered furniture, you probably want to do some research before buying. After all, if you wind up moving or re-arranging your furniture collection, you may want to sell a few of your own pieces. We hope that we've at least cleared up this little impasse for you, but if you have any other questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below!
Tags: veneer, solid wood, tips
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Posted by Chris under Furniture Commentary on February 22, 2011
When buying furniture online, there are many aspects of the research and buying process to take into account. We've decided to put together a list of the 5 most important things to look for when buying your furniture from an online dealer.
1. Primarily, the quality of the furniture. Depending on how serious you are about this, you may want to do some research (i.e. the difference between solid wood and veneers, how significant dovetails are, different types of finishes and wood types, different furniture traditions like American vs. English). If you could find a retailer who gets their supply from the U.S. or England, I would recommend doing that.
2. The quality of the website. If it is an out-dated or poorly designed site, then chances are, the business isn't very serious about selling online. They probably don't have an updated online inventory and in all likelihood lack property security measures in the code that runs their site.
3. The quality of the photos. If they're beautiful and plentiful, you can probably ask the retailer to take more pictures for you, which can be very helpful when you're trying to make the right decision.
4. The responsiveness of the dealer. If they're polite and have good etiquette and passable grammar, chances are they're a professional who knows what they're doing. Ask them plenty of questions about the piece(s) that you are interested in. If applicable, ask about the wood type, the finish, the manufacturing process, the period (Victorian, Georgian, etc.), the origin (England, China, etc.), and anything else you can think of. The more you know about furniture, the more productive these questions will be, because you may be able to catch a dishonest or ignorant dealer before they get your money. However, I would add that most serious dealers are for the most part honest about their product, because it is difficult to run a successful business by treating your customers badly.
5. Their online reputation. If you found the website at the top of a search engine results page, then they have probably devoted an incredible amount of time and resources to getting there, which means they are serious. Also, check if the dealer is on Ebay, Amazon, GoAntiques, or any other furniture outlet. Sometimes you can even get a better price this way. You may even want to see if they have a Facebook or Twitter account, just to see how involved they are in the business. Taking that extra step towards social media can mean the difference between a lazy dealer and a zealous merchant who is dedicated to their business.
Tags: tips, online furniture
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Posted by under Furniture Commentary on July 15, 2009
A friend of mine asked me the other day about how I distinguish different wood types. Now, I only regularly deal with a limited selection of wood types, but there are two basic facts that you need to know.
1. The first, most important thing I could say on the subject is this: there is no such thing as a "cherry finish" (to name the most popular example). This is a misnomer invented for the convenience of cheap synthetic veneers made to look like cherry (or any other wood type), and the term has simply become so popular that it has come to incorrectly apply to real and imitation cherry alike. Finishing is the process of staining and coating applied to a wood.
2. The way to identify wood is by its grain—not by its color. There is, again, no such thing as a "cherry color." Before staining, nearly all wood simply looks, in color at least, like the normal timber you'll find at any hardware store. This is why you will find, for example, oak furniture that is very light, or orange, or even black (as when it is ebonized). Some woods, however, tend to be a certain color, like yew, which tends to be orange-ish, and all woods take differently to different stains. However, the rule still stands: you identify wood by its grain.
It is difficult to explain what each grain looks like, but it is easy to show with pictures. Just see the following. (Click on the pictures for larger sizes.)
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Tags: furniture, tips, wood
6 comments.
Posted by Chris under Furniture Commentary on June 02, 2009
We often see people who are in the market for antiques but don't know where to look, or how. So we decided to put together a helpful list of tips to help make buying antique furniture easier for our readers.
1. Take measurements—before leaving.
Many people leave the home or office without knowing how large or small they need their furniture to be. After all the effort of finding the perfect antique, learning that it won't fit through your doorway can be a real downer—you may also find yourself coming back the next day only to see a sold sticker on your favourite table, or having to leave a show on its last day. So take measurements and come prepared with pen, notepad, tape measure, and camera in hand. Now that you are prepared, you can begin looking for the perfect antique.
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Tags: furniture, tips, veneer
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