Most people do not know how to figure out if their older furniture is actually valuable. This is why it is so common to see vintage furniture in homes with homeowners not even realizing how valuable some items are. This is why you might want to know how to determine if your furniture is actually vintage or just old.
Determining furniture value is not simple. Items have to be rare to be very valuable and old is not actually enough.
Generally, you would work with professionals that would be able to analyze the furniture at a true in-depth level. They can use processes similar to chemistry testing in food analysis as they determine furniture age and other important factors to determine age. However, you can still do the following.
Determine Furniture Owners
When you have information about the previous owners it is easier to date the item. While you might not be able to determine the original owner, you can take into account what you might know, like the fact that someone’s great-grandmother bought a table while they were traveling to another country. Also, you can take a look at family photographs to see if the possibly mid century furniture table appears in them.
Determine Furniture Rarity
Vintage furniture can be very valuable. In order to determine value, you can look at characteristics like unusual shape, size, or if the furniture was made with a specific purpose in mind.
Look for unique carving motifs, glass colors that are not common, and other atypical designs that could increase furniture value. Also, if the furniture is carved by someone that is well-known and there are just a few pieces created, the price obtained in auctions can be so much higher.
The other thing you can look at is if there are similar items that are reproduced now. When modern manufacturers do not make furniture like yours, the rarity factor goes up.
Determine Age
You might think that your furniture is very old but this does not mean that it is automatically vintage. There are many antique stores out there and almost all of them think that vintage items need to be over 50 years old. Fine antique dealers actually look only for objects that are older than 150 years old.
You might also think that furniture not considered to be antique because of age on the West coast is not necessarily considered to be the same in the other side of the country. And, usually, when furniture traveled from one city to another while transported in a wagon, it is almost surely antique.
Determine Furniture Quality
Generally, old furniture is of a higher quality than brand new furniture. Past makers focused on quality and were not interested in the very fast production that is nowadays a priority. Also, poor quality furniture almost never gets to resist for a long period of time. This practically means that old furniture quality is very important when determining value and even whether or not it is vintage.
Look at the piece’s composition. What wood is used? Do you see marble pieces or are there hand carvings present? Such factors can easily increase vintage furniture value.