Before we ever discovered Danville, we loved to look for antique furniture. We started small, browsing through little antique shops and antique malls discussing pieces that interested each of us. We compared our tastes and aesthetic sensibilities, trying to find out what exactly it was about a piece of furniture that appealed to us. We considered and dismissed many pieces before we could settle on something that would suit our home and our mutual tastes. One thing we began to discover was that there was a wealth of antique furniture out there for purchase. Items that we thought were unique when we saw them for the first time, we discovered to be simply repeated patters that were scattered throughout the antique world, each example in a different state of condition and for a slightly different price, not always commensurate with the condition of the piece.
There was the traditional solid oak furniture to be found everywhere, of a modest scale and with small embellishments that made it more appealing. These could be found in various conditions; from completely black from years of use and old wax, the glue joints somewhat creaky and slightly loose, to newly-refinished, golden, tight and glossy. We began to notice these differences, and explored our preferences. It seemed that neither of these options were wrong, but that the beauty was in the eye of the beholder. Our eyes found the beauty in those pieces whose service to their people was still evident in the dark finishes and minor flaws, evidence of having been lovingly used. The refinished pieces, while beautiful and glowing in their own right, felt sterile to us, devoid of their history. The ultimate beauty in those pieces, however, is that given another hundred years, they will be again covered in black and show evidence of their long, stoic utilization.
Along this journey we discovered our first truth about antique dealers, that is: What They Don’t Say Is More Important Than What They Do Say. We learned this the hard way, of course, as most truths are learned, as we made our way through an antique store and fell in love with the most beautiful imported antique Irish farm table. As we had never seen any Irish farm tables before, this table was unusual and fanciful to us. It was constructed of thick boards, well-joined to form the table top, the edges rounded with time, and the surface marred with years of use. The reeded legs were thick and sturdy, and the apron was unadorned, save for a simple bead of a moulding at its base. The drawer at the end was simply made, and the handle worn smooth from use. All over, a patina of time-steeped usage was rubbed off in the areas of highest use, and gave the piece an overall ancient yet timeless feeling. We loved the oversized dimensions, and pictured the piece, a bench on either side, providing meals to the hardworking family it had served for so many generations.
The antique dealer talked about the style of the table, the wood from which it was made, and the sources he imported from in Ireland. When we pressed him on the approximate age of the table, he was non-committal, and couldn’t exactly place how old it was, but pointed out the wear and the patina, and gentle flaws as evidence of its long use. That was enough for us, and we purchased the piece. Not long afterward, we ventured further abroad in our antiquing adventures and came upon an entire warehouse of such tables. The same reeded legs, the same apron, and the same worn handle on the simple drawer. All imported from Ireland. All made brand new for the American market. Lesson learned; If A Dealer Won’t Commit To An Answer, Or “Doesn’t Know” The Answer, It Means That You Won’t Like The Answer.
We only purchase from dealers who will voluntarily point out any flaws or repairs in a piece, who will guarantee to take a piece back for the purchase price, without question, who will put all of their assertions and guarantees into writing, and who has a strong knowledge of the furniture he is selling as well as a knowledge of the market for such pieces. Trust me, there are very few dealers who meet this standard. If You Are Not Sure About A Piece Of Furniture, Walk Away; If You Are Not Sure About A Dealer, Run! We have found it more productive to do our own homework in order to know the pieces we like better than any dealer, and purchase them at auction instead.
The downside and risk of buying at an auction is that the auctioneer can make all sorts of claims about a piece of furniture, its provenance or its condition. However, at the start of the auction every auctioneer will then announce that everything will be sold “as is, without any claims” thereby immediately absolving himself of any lies he has told before the bidding starts. Except for the large auction houses with a reputation to uphold, we generally don’t even bother talking to the auctioneer or his staff for that reason, as they will make you doubt the tale that the piece itself is telling you. Never Second-Guess Your Own Eyes And Your Own Senses, And Never Bid On An Oriental Rug Without First Moving ALL Of The Pieces Of Furniture Displayed Upon It.
One lesson we have learned from auctions is to Always Sit In The Rear Of The Auction Hall. Sure, it makes it more difficult for the auctioneer to see you waving your bidder card, but if you are interested in a piece, make a single bid early in the bidding to get the auctioneers attention; he will keep checking on you throughout the bidding on that piece so that when you step back in at the end, he won’t miss you. Coming in at the end is an important strategy to allow you to see who your competition is, and to do that, you need a good view of the auction hall. You want to get the bidding down to you and one other person. If it’s the guy along the side who has already purchased a couple of pieces, you are likely bidding against a dealer, and you can be assured that you will be paying a fair price. If it’s the couple in the front who haven’t bid on much else, you are likely bidding against an individual, either a collector or a novice, and you could end up over-paying if you aren’t careful. We never get into bidding wars in those circumstances, as we have seen other’s egos cost them a lot of money. If It’s Down To You And One Other Person Bidding Against Each Other, Far Above Where The Rest Of The Competition Gave Out, Check And See If It’s Your Ego Who Is Raising Your Bidder Card, Or Your Intellect. And Never Let Your Emotions Even Touch That Bidder Card!
The Most Important Adversary In The Auction Hall To Be Aware Of Is The Chandelier. Yes, the chandelier. We have observed many an item “sell” to “bidder number 43” yet we couldn’t identify the individual in the crowd, or even who they were bidding against. After careful observation, we discovered that the mystery bidder actually doesn’t exist, even though the auctioneer points him out over the heads of the auction-goers, in the direction of the chandelier. “Bidder number 43”, as it turns out, is a shell set up to absorb the items that don’t meet their reserve. The auctioneer invokes this bidder when the he can’t drum up enough interest in some of the items, yet still wants to keep the pace of the auction lively, while also creating the illusion that ALL of the items up for auction are desirable and valuable. It is a psychological tactic that clearly works. That is why we call this “bidding against the chandelier.” This strategy is always used when the auctioneer is the owner of the items up for sale; so knowing who actually owns the items at an auction is very important. By sitting in the back and visualizing your adversaries, it is less likely that the auctioneer can pull this trick on you. Though occasionally they use an actual person for this task, making the fake bidder more difficult to identify if you are not paying careful attention. The dead giveaway is that you can’t see the other bidder every time he bids. Bidding against the reserve is no different than agreeing to a set price — you can already do that in an antique shop, but with the added protection of a guarantee in case the piece is not what you were led to believe. Don’t do it in an auction, with no guarantees, and no real test for what the market actually believes the piece is worth. If you really love the piece, make the auctioneer an offer after the sale for what you would like to pay. Chances are, if he likes your price, you will find that the sale to “bidder number 43” fell through. At an un-reserved auction you won’t see any items sold to the chandelier, as all of the items are sold to the highest bidder, regardless of price.
Don’t Be Afraid To Look Stupid. Though I am a virtual expert in this matter, and quite comfortable through much experience with extricating myself from my missteps, gracefully or otherwise, I am always perplexed about how incredibly uncomfortable most people are of looking ignorant or uninformed. Hello…the only way to not be stupid is to learn, and the only way to learn is to ask questions. I have on occasion met the rare antique dealer who was disdainful of my questions, unwilling to discuss his wares with someone so uninformed. I gladly leave them to their precious antiques, reminding myself never to return once I understand those items well enough to be able to purchase one with confidence. Most antique dealers, however, are happy to talk about their antiques, the origins of the piece, the manufacturing details, the stylistic elements that help you understand regional and even continental differences among similar-styled pieces. The good news is that all this education is FREE! An English chest of drawers has a completely different value from an American chest of drawers, yet they can look so similar to the untrained eye. Train your eye by looking at so many examples and asking questions, until the differences become glaringly obvious. Begin to be able to identify different types of wood, different types of marks made by certain types of tools in the manufacturing process. Notice the small details, and don’t be afraid to ask a dealer how he knows something about a piece of furniture — they are typically proud to show off their expertise and the good ones know that an educated buyer is their most satisfied buyer. The flip side of that is to Never Assume That You Know Everything That There Is To Know About The Items You Have Chosen To Collect. Even the best book written by the premiere expert in the field will be re-published in a few years with even more details and information. While books are an excellent place to start your education, there is no substitute for hands-on experience.
Make A Good Team Using Every Tool That You Have. If you are fortunate enough to have a life partner who is as enthusiastic about antiques as you are, you have the beginnings of a good team. Discover what your strengths and weaknesses are and build upon them. Tom is great with numbers, recalling the sales prices of practically anything we have ever considered at auction or at retail. He has a knack for recognizing patterns, and is quick to identify the region of any oriental rug, Persian or otherwise. He has an amazing visual recall, far superior to mine. Given that, I leave the numbers and the stylistic details up to him, and focus more on the condition of a piece. I have learned to explore the reverse side of an oriental rug with my hands, eyes closed, carefully running my palms and fingertips gently over every inch of the back of a carpet. It is impossible to miss a repair that way, no matter how well the repair was done. A patch will have a completely different feel from the rest of the carpet. An added fringe will leap out at you from the reverse side, and even the scar of an old tear will be barely palpable, but you won’t miss it. I gently scrunch up sections of the rug from end to end, corner to corner, and give a squeeze. The unmistakable crunch of dry rot is something that can’t be forgotten once you’ve felt it, while the soft and supple feel of a healthy carpet is a strong and reassuring pressure against your palm. The tiny divots of moth damage, the embedded dust and dirt of a carpet seriously in need of a cleaning, the inconsistent feel of areas that have been re-piled, all of this you can “see” with your eyes closed.
While Tom focuses his energy on purchasing appropriate books and old auction catalogs to use as references, and pores over them at length, I wait for the highlights that he flags for me to review. He focuses on the big picture of a piece, while I look at the fine details. While he stands back to review the overall look and feel, to make sure that a large piece is not simply a marriage between two smaller pieces, and makes sure that the more fragile and decorative elements, as well as the hardware are all in keeping with the period and style, and not re-creations, I squeeze behind and start looking at the wood grain of the “secondary” woods. The secondary woods are the pieces used for the structure of a piece of furniture; the wood supporting the drawer fronts and making up the sides and bottoms of the drawers, the back of the piece, the undersides, whereas the primary woods are the pieces that you see that were meant to impress and give the piece its flavor and beauty; the book-matched flame mahogany drawer fronts, for example, or the quarter-sawn oak countertop, or the rosewood veneers. The Secondary Woods Are Just As Important To Understand As The Primary Woods, As They Tell The True Story Of A Piece. A secondary wood will be a less expensive wood, readily available to the person who made the piece. American pine vs. European pine; knowing the slight differences in the graining and the knot structure can tell you more than any antique dealer.
Arming yourself with a knowledge not only of the different woods, but the manufacturing details can help you. The significance of the shape and frequency of a dovetail in the frame of a drawer, the presence or absence of wood block supports, the shape of the feet, all can tell you more information about the age and origin of the piece. Take the drawers out and turn them over; you can instantly see if this was a pre-or post-industrial age piece. Was the wood on the underside cut with a saw or was it hand-planed. If it was cut with a saw, how rough or smoothly was it cut — this helps you place the piece in its proper period, as manufacturing tools became more efficient and accurate over time. My first approach at any unfamiliar style of furniture is again with my eyes closed. Take a good sniff at the piece. Does it smell like an old piece of furniture, or does it smell like it just came out of the wood shop with the smell of the wood and the glue and the stain? You shouldn’t smell any of those things after a hundred years. Early in our antiquing experience we were once almost fooled by an adorable armoire until I stuck my head inside and the smell of mahogany smacked me in the face. It turns out that the Indonesians have started producing some impressive reproductions and “period style” pieces. Oh, and if any piece of furniture is presented as “X-Style”, such as “Regency style” or “Victorian style” or “Colonial style”, that is dealer-speak for a reproduction in a specific style. It is not an antique.
Approach each piece of furniture as a book to be read; look at the overall appearance to figure out what genre it belongs to, then carefully read each chapter of primary wood, secondary wood, structure, design, manufacture, tool marks, evidence of age, smell, texture, surface patina, repairs or replacement parts. Check for clues to origin, region, and possibly even manufacturer. Each chapter will tell the story of the piece, and let you know if it is something that could possibly be considered for purchase. Only By Using All Of Your Senses Along With Your Knowledge And Experience Can You Be Confident Of What Is Before You. Only then do you consider price.
When it comes to the value of a piece, the factors involved are complex, yet basic. Pretty sells — this is especially true with paintings. So consider whether the piece is aesthetic pleasing or not. Also consider condition, as it is probably one of the most important factor when it comes to price. Over the years we have bought a lot of “project pieces” and rarely have we actually done anything with them. Our new rule of thumb is: Don’t Buy “Projects” Unless You Are A Repair Shop. That is paired with our other truism: Upholstery IS Important. On a basic piece of furniture, the cost of upholstery can exceed the value of the piece. Also consider the relative rarity of the piece and how hard it would be to find one of similar quality and style. The more unique a piece is, the more valuable, generally.
Visiting up in Massachusetts one year, we ran into an antique dealer somewhere around Dorchester who had amassed an amazing collection for sale, and had an impressive workshop for repairs. George Epstein was an elderly gentleman who was happy to help us in our education as we perused his treasures and asked questions. He told us that the most important piece of advice he could give us was to Buy Man-Hours. This advice still holds true today, as the pieces in our collection which are the most valuable and will continue to hold their value are those pieces which took years of study by the designer in order to achieve the level of artistic ability needed to create those pieces, combined with the mastery of the workers who spent years acquiring the skills to execute the designs of the artist. Whether it is work done in silver, in wood, in mixed metals, or other mediums, those pieces shine through as outstanding examples of their kind.
So have your measurements ready, enjoy the process of learning about and collecting antiques, and be sure to keep great records. Document your collection, unless you don’t mind having your kids sell everything for $5 at a yard sale after you are gone.
Carla Minosh
While I am new to Blogging, I have always enjoyed sharing the stories of my crazy life, so this is simply another medium to share, and hopefully entertain and enrich others. Perhaps you can feel thankful that your life is so steady and predictable after reading these, perhaps you can appreciate the insanity and wish you had more of it in your life. Either way, the crazy tales are all true (to the best of my spotty recollection) and simply tell the tale of a life full of exploration, enthusiasm, curiosity and hard work. I hope you all enjoy being a part of the journey.
I just stumbled upon your blog via "Abandoned House Virginia" Facebook page. You MUST write and Ebook!!!!!!….your information is invaluable and your writing style engaging and accessible. I feel like I just took a master class….can't wait to come back!
….one additional small piece of feedback though…your blog title runs off the page? If you go to your layout page, you can break the title up midway by hitting "return" and it will not run off the page. You can also go to the "design" page and adjust your widths under "advanced" settings. I am in love with your blog!
Yet another enjoyable, highly informative, and fascinating post!!!!!!!!!
Awesome work! That is quite appreciated. I hope you’ll get more success. Demir Leather
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.