Care & Preservation

The Hitchcock Chair Company was an industry leader and innovator in both the 19th and 20th centuries. After a fascinating history, it folded—again—in 2006.

Furniture Styles

American history can be found anywhere from museums to the old building around the block. I just happened to find an interesting source at an auction, not as a buyer or seller but as a student.

Antiques

A Daytona Beach, Florida, museum may hold the best collection of American antique furniture south of Williamsburg, Virginia.

Furniture Styles

Eating used to be such a simple affair: If you found something to eat you ate it right then and there. When we got civilized eating became more complicated.

Antiques

Once you decide you have an interest and want to give it a go, here are the places and steps you can take in your pursuit of studying furniture.

Furniture

Our staff loves old things, but these new products make our collections and investments all the more valuable: Raggedy Ann and Andy retro rag dolls, Howard’s Restor-A-Finish, The Encyclopedia of Antique Trunks.

Antiques

Fred Taylor’s introduction to Furniture French came when he and his wife were furnishing their first house. Learn about furniture pieces with French names.

Antiques

Out here in the field it is amazing how many “furniture fables” still persist in this information age of the internet and the Antiques Roadshow.

Furniture Styles

At first chairs don’t have a lot to say about who they are or where they came from (or when); you have to look closely at the construction.

Care & Preservation

One popular definition of furniture is “functional art.” But in order for it to function properly, we need to understand its use, care, and - when necessary - repair.

Furniture Styles

When I go looking on the internet for information on furniture, sometimes I am appalled at the amount of incomplete, misleading, inaccurate or just plain dead wrong information I come across.

Care & Preservation

The internet is awash in uninformed or misinformed furniture experts who offer their experience in wood furniture care. Here's what you really need to know.

Furniture Styles

Renown furniture expert Fred Taylor gives his professional opinion on antique furniture resources for buyers, sellers and scholars.

This numbered label from the Mahogany Association was the assurance that all exposed wood was genuine mahogany. Photo courtesy Fred Taylor

Furniture Styles

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.