Home: Antique Furniture Appraisals Do you need an appraisal on a piece of furniture? Perhaps it's a cabinet or a mahogany dining table that you found at a junk yard sale, picked up at auction, or inherited from your great-granduncle? Or maybe it's a chest of drawers or dining chair that you found in a dusty antique shop? When valuing a piece of furniture, our experts consider the item's age, style, size and origin. The condition matters too: an item in exceptional condition is typically worth more than an item that has become a bit wobbly or has some conservation issues. No matter the condition, age or type of your piece, our antique furniture experts will be able to give you an appraisal.If you'd like to get an antique furniture appraisal from our online specialist, simply upload a photograph and tell us any other details you know about the item. Its easy - start uploading your images now! Our Antique Furniture Appraisals team After studies in architecture, our English and European furniture expert embarked on a career in fine art auctioneering.
He became a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Until February, 2012, he was for the past thirty-two years the senior English and Continental furniture valuer at Sotheby’s in Bond Street. This entailed appraisals of many of the great collections in palaces, castles and country houses throughout the U.K. and overseas, as well as involvement with some of the great dispersals such as Thurn und Taxis, Baden and Chatsworth House. Our continental furniture specialist joined Sothebys as a porter after university in 1994 and spent the whole of 1995 working on the Baden-Baden house sale. He then became a furniture specialist and in 2000 worked in Germany to help put together a major house sale at Schloss Mon Repos. He is a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS) and has been evaluating and cataloguing antique furniture for 20 years. It’s quick and easy to get an expert appraisal report. Upload a photo of your item to get started! Useful and Related Links Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK The Wallace Collection, London, UK The Frick Collection, New York, USAWaddesdon Manor, Waddesdon, UKMusée Nissim de Camondo, Paris, FranceThe J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA
Get your Antique Furniture valued today! Want our specialist antique furniture appraisals team to appraise your item? Value My Stuff makes it easy to get an Antique Furniture appraisal. Just upload photographs of the item - remember, the better the quality of the pictures, the more accurate the Antique Furniture appraisal will be - add any additional details about the history of your item and within 48 hours, our Antique Furniture Appraisal will be emailed to you! Value My Stuff can also provide ceramic appraisals, clock appraisals and watch appraisals. Proin gravida nibh vel velit auctor aliquet. Aenean sollicitudin, lorem quis bibendum auctor, nisi elit consequat ipsum, nec sagittis sem nibh id elit. Duis sed odio sit amet nibh vulputate cursus a sit amet mauris. Morbi accumsan ipsum velit. Nam nec tellus a odio tincidunt auctor a ornare odio. Sed non mauris vitae erat consequat auctor eu in elit. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos.
Mauris in erat justo. Nullam ac urna eu felis dapibus condimentum sit amet a augue. Sed non neque elit. Sed ut imperdiet nisi. Proin condimentum fermentum nunc. Etiam pharetra, erat sed fermentum feugiat, velit mauris egestas quam, ut aliquam massa nisl quis neque. Suspendisse in orci enim. Proin gravida nibh vel velit auctor aliquet. Aenean sollicitudin, lorem quis bibendum auctor, nisi elit consequat ipsum, nec sagittis sem nibh id elit. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos.Suspendisse in orci enim. Art Nouveau Furniture Appraisal French Antique Furniture Appraisal Louis XV Furniture Appraisal Louis XVI Furniture Appraisal It's quick and easy to get an appraisal... 1Upload your photos with any facts 2We assign an expert from our specialist team 3Receive your appraisal straight to your inbox There is so much more stuff to discover...A Solid Mahogany Victorian Pembroke Table With Drawer To Its End
Also, the chair had the original seat cushions, which meant it'd be easy to duplicate a new set of cushions. Remove the cushions and the loop springs that hold tension under the seat cushion. Fortunately the loops on our chair are in good shape — these can be the hardest part to replace on one of these chairs. When purchasing a chair to refurbish, make sure the loops are intact or at least get a steep discount on the price if they are missing. We used Jasco brand stripper because it contains wax that will help keep the stripping vapors locked onto the surface of the wood longer. Wear safety glasses and rubber gloves. With a paintbrush, apply an even coat of stripper over the entire chair. Have water nearby in case of a mishap. Apply liberally and don't brush over areas that are already coated because it will break down the chemicals and they won't work as well. To speed up the process time and help the stripper along, cover the chair in black plastic garbage bags for about 20 minutes.
It doesn't have to be completely sealed, but if you can fit the whole chair in a big bag, that is the best. After the 20 minutes, remove the bags and use a metal paint scraper to remove the finish and stripper from the chair. Use odorless mineral spirits and a plastic-bristle brush to scrub off the access stripper and finish. Mineral spirits will deactivate the stripper and if any got down into the pores of the wood, it will be safe to refinish over a trace amount. It should be turning a bit white at this point, but don't worry; it can be sanded off later. You may ask why now and not earlier. Stripper is a bear to work with when you have nothing to grab, so keeping the chair intact while doing it makes the process a lot easier. Plus, it is easier to sand (with the grain) when in pieces. Separate the chair into as many pieces as you can easily take apart. Our chair has four pieces: a right side, left side, seat and back. This is where you make or break the project, so take your time and be methodical.
Use 150-grit sandpaper on a palm sander and follow the contours of the chair. (Good sandpaper is worth the extra cost, so buy the good stuff. It will last longer and won't tear as quickly.) Sand everything evenly, and be careful not to "chatter" the sander on the edges, as it will leave marks on the wood you are trying to smooth out. If you get into a tight area, just leave it for hand sanding. Cut sandpaper into manageable squares. You should be able to get four squares out of each full-size sheet of sandpaper. Fold each square in half and start working in the hard-to-reach areas that you couldn't get with the palm sander. Try to sand with the grain even if it means going in short strokes when butting up against a constricting area. Very Important: All of the sanding marks will show through on the finished piece. The key to a professional-looking job is in the sanding as much as in the finishing. To get the rich golden-orange color of the teak, apply a coat of teak oil.
It will penetrate into the grain of the wood and seal it, and at the same time bring out the wood's natural color. Start by pouring a small amount from the can into a container that you can dip a brush into. Use a chip brush to spread the teak oil all over the chair pieces. Coat it thoroughly and let the oil stand for about 5 to 7 minutes (in warmer climates, maybe 3 or 4 minutes). Then wipe down all the pieces with a clean rag. Very Important: Be sure to remove all the excess teak oil or it will gum up and take days to dry. Once it is thoroughly wiped down, let all of the pieces sit for at least 12 hours. At this point, there are two options. You can stop and just have a thin hard coat of the teak oil bring out the wood's natural beauty. You will have to re-apply another coat of teak oil every couple of years, or when you begin to see wear. If you keep up with it, you will not need to strip and refinish. This option will give you a much flatter finish look and is not for high-traffic usage.
The second option is to spray lacquer on the piece to add a protective clear coating in a satin sheen. Although it is still permeable to liquids, you should get 15 years out of a finish like this. Spray on two to three coats of lacquer (we used Deft brand). Hold the can 8 to 10 inches from the surface and follow the contours of the chair. Don't stop in one spot; keep your hand moving in a fluid motion to get even coverage. Sand lightly between each coat with 320-grit sandpaper, just enough to knock down roughness in the finish, but do not sand through the layer of teak oil. You can use a brush-on lacquer, but if your piece of furniture has a lot of curves or edges, it might be hard to stop the drips and runs. Let each piece dry for 24 hours before you put them all back together. Assemble the pieces in the reverse order of how you took them apart. Make sure everything is tight but not over tightened. Unless you've got a lot of sewing skills, you're probably better off finding a local upholstery shop to make the two simple cushions and covers.