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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: BillyD on March 28, 2019, 04:09:43 PM
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Hello to all! I'd like to get an evaluation on this walnut dresser. I'd like to sell it but really don't know the right price. It is in beautiful, amazing condition. Researched leads me to believe it was manufactured between 1869 and 1880. It was in the same family from purchase, until it was gifted to me last year. Thanks in advance for any help!
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Pretty sure if you look at the edge of the drawers, doors ect,, you will find this is a veneered dresser !! This style was popular from about 1880 to about 1910 or so depending on who made it !! Style is late Empire revival !! I have had several items in this style over the years by different mfrs !! Value if in excellent condition about $300. to $350. tops depending on your location !! Most sell for less that that !!
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Agree with "Big M" on this one. Considering the relatively low dollar amount, you might want to consider keeping this beautiful dresser. You can't buy anything remotely as nice new, and its much "greener" to reuse an antique than to buy some new piece of pressed sawdust.
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And do not try to strip and refinish unless you can tell for sure it is indeed a veneer !! I had a sideboard years ago in the same style to restore !! I started to strip the old finish off and every bit of the walnut grain came off too !! It was a faux painted/stained grain !! Not all mfrs used this method but its worth checking before you have the mess I had !! It ain`t fun having to re-grain all that I removed !!
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It was a faux painted/stained grain !! Not all mfrs used this method but its worth checking before you have the mess I had !!
Yeah, it was called "printing or printed" i think, not sure if they used ink or paint. You can usually tell this because the grain pattern is repeated EXACTLY the same where with wood/veneer the grain pattern is different
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Sure taught me to check closer and don`t get in a hurry !!
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Great advice you two!
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Like "grain painted" furniture, ……… then do it yourself, to wit:
How To Create a Faux Wood Grain Finish
Old House OnlineApr 10, 2014
https://www.oldhouseonline.com/repairs-and-how-to/create-faux-wood-grain-finish (https://www.oldhouseonline.com/repairs-and-how-to/create-faux-wood-grain-finish)
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From Antique Trader
"However, by the end of the 19th century the deception became commercial rather than individual. In 1885, an inventor in Grand Rapids named Harry Sherwood came up with a system to mechanically grain just about any wood to look like the most popular wood of the time – quarter cut golden oak. Quarter cutting oak to produce the prominent “tiger eye” design is an expensive process both in material and in labor time, and this new system allowed Sherwood to open a new business based exclusively on his deceptive graining practices. Flat surfaces were stained and then grained with large inked drum rollers that produced the distinctive pattern. Curved pieces were grained by hand using small specially carved rollers. Many furniture manufacturers of the time quickly adopted the technique, and it was in widespread use by 1910. The furniture looked “right” to the uneducated customer’s eye, but it was made of significantly less expensive material like softwood pine instead of quarter cut white oak. The surprise would come many years later when one of these pieces needed to be refinished. What had looked like a solid oak chest turned out to be a plain softwood chest after it was stripped. Many refinishers had a lot of explaining to do."
https://www.antiquetrader.com/antiques/furniture-detective-watching-cheap-tricks-fake-finishes/
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I once did a “refinish” of a non-oak stand and grain=painted it to look like oak.
I bought the “kit” at a local hardware/paint store. It included a “light yellow” base color, …. a “dark” top cover …. and a little rectangle, flexible, “wiper” pad with serrated edges.
Ya just kinda “slop” the “dark” top cover over the dry base color …. and then “drag” a serrated edge of the pad across the wood ….. while flexing then pad up n’ down …. with more pressure then less pressure and WOOOWEEEEE, ;D ;D ;D ….. you created a beautifully “grained” piece of oak that is ready to varnish after it has dried.
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There was at least 4 different woods used in the one I had !! Some was oak but it was a plain straight grain !! Pine and ash as well !! I just used some darker stain and replaced what I removed !! Turned out OK but sure taught me a lesson !!
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lol, I BET! nothing like refinishing a piece only to discover wood grain was PRINTED on surface!
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I just thanked heavens it was mine instead of one I was paid to do !!
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Thanks for the info! While I'm a bit crest-fallen regarding the value, I really appreciate all of your input and help.
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For some reason this style has never been popular with the buying public !! And they are the ones that determine value !! An item,, no matter what it is ,,is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it !! Thats the reason I suggest not buying the price guides that many offer for sale !! Its difficult to explain to people why their item that was priced at $1000. ten years ago,, is now worth only $100. !! Antique sales is like following the stock market !! Its up and down !!
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Down! being the key word there for antique furniture.
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Right !!!
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BillyD, many people have been told by relatives that pieces that they have inherited are very valuable or priceless. Unfortunately, people today relate that to today's money value and are sadly disappointed. When you look at a piece and determine that time/era that it was made/sold...to buy that item took alot of scrimping and saving $$ to buy - thus it was held dearly. Today, we are such a "instant gratification/disposable society" and pieces can be made cheaper (with cheaper materials) made for the masses...that majority opt for the "cheaper, get-it-now" furniture thus lowering the market values.
Some of my most valued pieces aren't worth a whole lot $$$ but are sentimentally priceless!