Are you properly defending your antique furniture against organic damage? Be it insects, pets or people, all require some safeguarding when it comes to furniture. Read More +
Managing organic threats to furniture
Tag Archives: Furniture Detective
Furniture Detective: Write the ad right: Sell the piece
Before you post the next item you’re looking to sell online or in classified ads, review the Furniture Detective’s tips to crafting a effective description. Read More +
Furniture Detective: What’s in a name? Furniture lexicon clouded by misnomers
In a world where a good story sometimes overshadows the facts, furniture lexicon has it’s own history of misnomers, misunderstandings and more. Read More +
Ask Antique Trader: Windsor fan back chair based on 19th century design
Please tell me something about these Windsor style chairs. They were painted and used as outdoor furniture when my mother-in-law acquired them in the 1940s. She refinished them and used them inside. 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 +