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Your Online Antiques University
What Original Finish? These days almost everyone is aware of the great difference in value between a piece of antique furniture with it's original finish and one that was stripped down " To let the beauty of the wood show through". Every Antique show in America has the experts admonishing the public that " if you had left the original finish on it would be worth ten times what it's worth now", so much so it's got to the point people are afraid to have Grandma's department store dining room suite refinished.What Appraisers often fail to mention is that the original finish is really no longer there, what they are actually referring to is the accumulation of newer finishes ,wax, polish & grime, it's this 'Patina' of loving care over the years that they are really talking about . When Appraisers talk about maintaining original finishes and value they are really only referring to a rather select group of furniture produced in limited quantities by famous cabinetmakers & designers and not the majority of pieces built by the hundreds of furniture companies active at the turn of the last century. The truth is, in the case of the vast majority of furniture built in the last 100 years value will be enhanced by proper refinishing or restoration , even the world famous Auction houses either have their own shop restorer's or contract out to professionals. In the case of painted pieces the issue of value and originality is much more cut and dried, any painted piece, especially one with stencils , vinegar painting or any other sort of decoration should be left alone until examined by a professional, what might looks to you like something knocked together out of scrap is someone else's $3000.00 piece of 'Folk Art' . The main reason good painted pieces now bring such a high premium is that huge quantities of chairs , tables, chests , corner cabinets all went into the dip tanks when the fashion of the time dictated, now the demand has outstripped the remaining supply and exceptional pieces are fought over by Museums or private collectors with deep pockets. Mike Wilcox Wilcox & Hall Appraisers Copyright Wilcox & Hall Online- 19972006 All Rights Reserved |
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Pottery and
Porcelain by the marks O & EG Austria Platter German Jasperware "Sevres Style" Porcelain Dragonware Nevers Pottery Hutschenreuther Plates Rörstrand Paul Valéry/EdgarDegas Albert Ludovici Aubrey Vincent Beardsley Swastika Pottery Majolica Indian Blankets Weller Art Nouveau Pottery Real or Reproduction? Limited editions and all that Netsuke Yard sale or Roadshow Material? The Myth of the Original Finish New Haven Clocks |