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If you have antique furniture pieces and you are wondering how you determine value of antique chair or table, you have to look into several factors.
As such a piece of furniture is considered antique only when it is 100 to 150 years old. Finding out the value of the price is based on how old the antique is and the older it is the more its value.
Finding the age of your antique chair requires carefully examination of various aspects.
Shine of the patina
The main feature that can immediately set off a piece of wooden furniture as antique is the shine of the patina. Patina is the glow that is seen on the surface of furniture after years of polish and wax being accumulated on it and the more the shinier, the older your furniture ad hence the higher its value.
Edge, cuts and joints
If you notice the edge, cuts and joints of your furniture and you see that it is not machine made, then you can be sure that it is from a time period prior to the 1860s.
It was only during the 1860’s that machine cutting was introduced. Checking out cuts, nicks and joint surface enables you to determine if the furniture is hand-made and in such cases the value of the furniture is quite high.
Check out the screws used in the furniture as those prior to 1840 had flat, un-tapered heads.
Surface area of the chair
The next thing you need to check out is the surface area of the chair. The presence of hair line cracks and scratches also shows that your pieces is old as these features appear with time, as does discoloration due to the effects of being placed unevenly under sunshine.
If you look at the chair on its underside, you should be able to see more of discoloration and the more you see of it, the more the age of the chair. You can say that it is at east 100 years of age.
Smoothness of the surface
One thing that can clearly make out an antique piece is the smoothness of the surface. No old furniture will have a sooth surface as none of the modern instruments used to bring this about was available in those times.
Furthermore any alterations made to the original chair piece in any way can diminish its value. You can determine this out by checking out surface areas.
If you see something that is freshly cut or an area in the chair with plugged holes, you can be sure that it is not as valuable as it is made out to be as such changes have reduced it price.
Kind of wood
Finally check the kind of wood that was used in the making of the furniture. Wood furniture prior to the 1700 was mostly oak, and after 1700 other woods types such as walnut and mahogany was used.
In the United States, pine was used extensively in making wood furniture after the 1700, so this is yet another factor that will show you how old your antique piece is and you can use this to determine its value.
Look into these points and you can easily determine the value of your antique chair.
Alterations
One thing to note about finding the value of an antique piece is that you have to be sure that it has not been altered in any way from its original form.
Alterations would have occurred over time in some pieces because of wear and tear, and if you have an antique chair that needs redoing, keep it the way it is as only then will it be high in value and otherwise it’s value will depreciate, especially when modern materials are used to give it a makeover.
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