Twenty years ago I purchased an unusual Robert W. Irwin Art Deco dining room set which resembles Eliel Saarinen’s design. The link to Eliel Saarinen is tenuous at best. Read More +
Author Archives: Fred Taylor
Springing for custom pads shields dining table investment
Good quality, custom made table pads are among the best furniture investments you can make. Don’t shortchange yourself trying to make do with sheets, blankets, quilts, mattress pads and cheap table pads. Spring for the good stuff one time and be done with it. Read More +
Outsourcing: Finding out who really made a piece of furniture is no easy task
One of the most frequently asked questions about a piece of older and antique furniture is, “Who made it?” That seems to be a reasonable question, along with the other basic inquiries of “How old is it?” and “What is … Read More +
Furniture Detective: Screws give valuable clues when in search of antique furniture origins
One of the most overlooked and least understood clues in establishing the date and authenticity of older and antique furniture is the story that screws can tell about the history of a piece. Read More +
How political unrest reinvented America’s antique furniture design
The political unrest in 19th century Germany had a profoundly positive effect on American furniture construction and design for the next 50 years. A large number of German craftspeople made their way to America in the 19th century, but four in particular stand out in the furniture field: John Henry Belter, George Hunzinger and Gustave and Christian Herter. Read More +
Furniture Detective: Not all antique Grand Rapids furniture is grand
Common wisdom in the furniture trade says that anything made in Grand Rapids is “good stuff.” Is that true? Perhaps. But like so many other things, there is always a “but.” In this case the but is “Made when and by whom in Grand Rapids?” Read More +
Furniture Detective: Don’t be led astray by ambiguous antique furniture terms
A piece of furniture described as having a “broken pediment” may cause confusion or concern on the part of those unfamiliar with antiques-related terminology. Furniture Detective Fred Taylor clears up this and more antiques-related terms. Read More +
Furniture Detective: How antique furniture pieces get their names
In the everyday conduct of our affairs in the older and antique furniture trade, we often come across terms and references that we accept as just part of the lingo. But almost just as often we have little or no idea what the reference or term really means or how it got to be called that. Read More +
Manufacturer, Retailer or Association? How to decipher vintage furniture labels
Duncan Phyfe was one of the rare early century cabinetmakers who actually used paper labels and tags to identify some of his work, but most makers of the early period either scrawled their name or mark under a drawer somewhere or didn’t bother to mark their products at all. Finding a label on a piece of furniture now means that the collector has to know what kind of label it is to decipher its meaning. Read More +
Four top reasons why antique furniture values vary
What determines asking or eventual selling prices of antiques or collectibles anyway? The universal answer has four parts: quality, condition, rarity and demand. Read More +