American Antique Furniture

The birth of antique furniture emerged differently. Different periods were welcomed and have overlapped one another. There was the Colonial era that embraced the Jacobean, Queen Anne and Chippendale realm. There was also the federal age which wrapped Hepplewhite, Sheraton and Classical. Along with the birth of these periods, is the existence of different antique valuables.

The American antique furniture also came in existence and was a wide coveted option of many. During the mid of 17th century, Thomas Mulninert designed the oldest American furniture piece. Mulninert was a skillful craftsman from the New Haven colony. Professional building of furniture did not really developed prominence in the United States until the later part of 17th century though.

The American antique furniture styles are relatively distinct to their periods and collectors of these items were frequently partial to single style. In the Pilgrim era, the furniture was heavy and large, attached with some wooden pegs, holding the joints together. They are typically made from pine or oak. Today, they are extremely difficult to find.

American Antique Furniture

The era of William and Mary significantly distinguishes the old pilgrim style. There came a heavy wood relief. There were also ornate designs that make it out from conservative pieces. That feature, matched with polishing made it appear nearly decadent. This type of furniture was mostly made with walnut, pine or maple.

Furniture during the Queen Anne period was extremely sought-after by the avid collectors. It was highly known for its heavy lacquer and intricate scroll work. Cherry, walnut and mahogany were the common kinds of woods utilized to make this kind of American antique furniture.

The period of Chippendale produced another style of antique furniture that was often doubled in order. Usually, the pieces are a combination of Oriental, Gothic or French rococo styles. This is what makes the furniture exquisite. The designer Thomas Chippendale was greatly revolutionary and many mistakenly label his creations as 18th century furniture.

When you plan to buy antique furniture, be sure to test its quality type. You can ask for the categories from the dealer. Usually, it is defined as good, better, best, superior and masterpiece.

There are a lot of specialists in the field of American antique furniture if buyers are interested on this venture. Consulting and researching are best done before making any purchases. Unfortunately, there are just people in the antique industry who take advantage of neophyte collectors. Yet, navigating the antique kingdom is all worthy for really beautiful pieces of furniture.

American Antique Furniture
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A Quick Guide To Mahogany Antique Reproduction Furniture

Mahogany furniture is a largely English furniture institution. Much of the antique furniture originating in the 18th Century was made of mahogany. Not only did it look extremely appealing, it was also widely known for its hard wearing and long lasting properties. As mahogany was not native to England, it was exported from Puerto Rico and Cuba for use in furniture making. However, it is extremely expensive today and is not commonly used for furniture. Antique mahogany furniture is also really expensive so if you are looking to decorate your home then you may want to investigate the possibility of buying mahogany antique reproduction furniture.

Mahogany antique reproduction furniture is beautiful as a result of its carved patterns and rich colouring. It can add character to any room and should be the focal point if it is purchased for your home. Mahogany antique reproduction furniture is very popular and can be used to great effect, regardless of whether you choose to purchase one piece or a whole house full.

Although you will not find mahogany antique reproduction furniture in regular antiques stores, there is still a huge market for it. Craftsmen that make the mahogany antique reproduction furniture are highly skilled individuals and give the pieces character and style. As a result, there are a number of stores that have snapped such pieces up to market them effectively. There are online and offline stores that stock mahogany antique reproduction furniture so it is easy enough to locate and not all that expensive to buy. As it is still made of mahogany it does have a fairly high price tag, but not nearly as high as the real thing.

A Quick Guide To Mahogany Antique Reproduction Furniture

The mahogany used to make mahogany antique reproduction furniture is actually imported from Africa so it should tell a tale in itself. However, by the time its gets you it has a completely different history.

Every piece of mahogany antique reproduction furniture is reliable and should last a lifetime or two. Most pieces are carved in great detail and are very pretty, especially if placed in the right place. The pieces are also functional and can be used in daily life. However, most mahogany antique reproduction furniture is in a more formal style and thus would do well in a room designed for entertaining, such as a dining room or office. Many designs appear in a Victorian style and thus can seem a bit overbearing at times. However, if combined with carpets and walls in lighter tones then it would go extremely well in any room of the house.

You should care for mahogany antique reproduction furniture in much the same way as you would authentic antique furniture, with a little tender loving care and a soft cloth! It can add value to your home and give it an individual flavour that most crave so enjoy it while you can!

A Quick Guide To Mahogany Antique Reproduction Furniture
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You can also find more info on Antique Furniture Lighting and Antique Furniture Reproductions. Antiquefurniturersource.com is a comprehensive resource to know about Antique Funiture.

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Understanding Louis XV Antique Furniture

Period History:

Louis XV was the grandson of King Louis XIV and ruled France between 1715 and 1774. He is most commonly known for being one of France's most unpopular kings. During his reign, he managed to upset almost every social group in his country, yet surprisingly, in its own exclusive way, that segregation from his people has led to the Louis XV period antique furniture being some of the most sought after French furniture in the world.

Due to the unbalance of his country, the remaining Louis XV furniture is seen as a great treasure that heralds from a time of grave public unrest in France and symbolises the determination of its people as a whole but, in particular, in its furniture designers to continue to inspire, create and deliver a legacy of beautiful, intricate and detailed furniture which remains to this day a coveted style of design.

Understanding Louis XV Antique Furniture

For all the things that went wrong with Louis XV's reign as King of France, one thing that is undeniable is the detailed quality of the furniture that rose from this dark time in France's history to reer a head of something quite the opposite, both elegant and flowing, in a time of bleak misery.

What Makes Louis XV Furniture Louis XV Furniture?

There are a number of tell-tale design characteristics that articulate this style of design. It is quite common to hear or see pieces of furniture incorrectly described as Louis XV, when in actual fact, they are Louis XIV. What separates the two is actually quite distinctive, and I'll list them below.

Louis XV Furniture is:

Designed more curvaciously Free flowing forms and shapes Not made with straight lines, straight cuts or anything that looks angular Intricately carved and seemingly infinitely detailed Hand painted Shells tend to form the focul points of each design Symbolic of romance, sensuality and love Light and graceful
Louis XV Furniture is not:

Reliant on presence to state its claim, such as Gothic Furniture Made with straight cuts Big, bulky or angular Strong and masculine Machine painted Machine cut

You will find that Louis XIV furniture is quite the opposite in style to Louis XV, and where I've listed the points above that are not associated with Louis XV, you will tend to find these same characteristics present in Louis XIV furniture, for example, it will be more angular and less graceful, more inline with a masculine strength of style than a graceful, romantic wisp as seen in Louis XV furniture. It is a very common mistake, most probably due to the similarities in name, but it is vital when identifying your antique furniture to get the periods correct as unsurprisingly, it can cause chaos for the buyer at auction!

The next problem I tend to see quite often in my field is misselling replicas as originals.

Identifying Real Louis XV Antique Furniture

Yes, as sad as it is, there will always be those amongst us who feel the need to misrepresent antiques for personal gain by selling copies or replicas. When buying antiques, especially online, make sure to use a respected reseller, such as LJR Windwake & Sons, or a seller who specialises in your desired style, in this case, a Louis XV Antique Furniture Specialist. It is vitally important to be utterly scrupulous when buying antiques online at auction sites or dealers, but fortunately, I have some good tips on how to make sure that the piece of furniture you're buying is the real deal.

1. Ask for Details on How the Cupboard was Made

Make sure you ask the seller to explain to you how the piece was made, making sure to get him to describe to you the joints in the wood. If they are visible, and keep in mind that the joinery of an 'antique' would not be machine cut but would in actual fact be hand cut, ask him to describe them to you. Chances are that hand cut joints will be rougher and perhaps not as exact as machine cut joints, which should be a good indication of originality and the antique you are buying is actually an 'antique' and not something that was knocked off a production line in ShenZhen, China, 2006.

The best way to find a cut is to remove a draw and have a close look at where the front and back of the drawer are fastened to the sides of the drawer. If a joint was made by hand, it would be dovetailed and have only a few dovetail joints, and they wouldn't be precisely even. If the dovetails are close together and precisely cut, it will have been machine-cut. Handmade dovetails almost always indicate a piece made before 1860.

2. Look for Imperfections such as Nicks and Cuts

Another great way to help identify the validity of an antique or hand-made piece of furniture would be to look closely for nicks and cuts on the back, sides and bottom of the draw. Nicks and cuts usually indicate a hand operated tool was used to plane, shave or cut the wood. Straight cuts, the kind you'd get from a straight saw, are also good signs whereas cuts that look circular in appearance mean that the cut was made with a circular saw, again not in use until after 1860.

3. Exact Symmetry? No way!

This is probably the easiest tell tale sign of machine made furniture compared to hand made. If something looks exactly symmetrical, chances are its been cut by machines, so make sure you request lots of pictures of the piece of furniture you're buying.

4. Ask for a Detailed Description of the Finish

The style of finish is also a great way of identifying the age of a piece of Louis XV. Certain finishes were in use in different periods which is an excellent way to identify the age of your antique furniture. For Louis XV, it should all be hand painted. Hand painting is often identifiable by slight imperfections in brush strokes or edges, although some of the finest Louis XV won't show any signs of human error, because the quality was so high, it is always advisable to ask for pictures of all paintwork, especially so for imperfections as these can actually ADD to the value of your furniture.

5. Make Sure the Seller Explains the type of Wood used in Manufacture

This is often a simple method of gauging an age because generally, as a rule of thumb, anything before 1700 was made from oak, 1700 onwards (our Louis XV era), mahogany and walnut were the choice woods. if its pine, it normally indicates an American furniture piece and is normally indicative of slightly cheaper works. The really valuable, old antique Louis XV treasures will be made from mahogany or walnut.

Conclusion

Always be careful when buying antique furniture but if you are thinking of buying, make sure you arm yourself with as much research as possible prior to attending auction houses. It is also very advisable to go to an auction with a particular object in mind. Visit the open days, make your notes, go home and research what you've seen and then attend the auctions with renewed knowledge about your purchase and always, always try to get as much information out of the seller as possible, whether buying online or at an auction house.

Understanding Louis XV Antique Furniture
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Information about the Author:

Lee Rushworth is the founder of Sunderland based White Knight Projects Ltd., an investment company who specialise in helping new companies launch their products and services online with new business start up advice, web design sunderland and strategic and financial support. If you are looking to get help starting your new business and are based in the UK, have a good product idea and an insatiable drive to succeed, contact Lee at http://www.whiteknightprojects.com to see what support or investment you could get.

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Antiques - 17th Century Furniture

It is rare to find furniture pre-16th Century anywhere other than in a museum. It seems that collectors have only been able to obtain pieces from the Tudor period (1485-1600) onwards and even these are relatively small in number.

Until the middle of the 17th Century, furniture was fairly simple, made of oak with peg joins. Some items were painted or inlaid, but the décor, if any, was usually carving. The most common items found today are panelled oak chests, used for linen, some of which are hand-carved with architectural shapes or grotesque figures. If the carving is too geometrical and regular is possible that the whole piece is a fake or at least that the decoration has been "improved" or added more recently.

Later in the 17th Century, what we now know as the chest of drawers gradually evolved. It began with a carcass containing a couple of drawers mounted on a stand with turned legs and progressed to the item that we would recognise now with drawers all the way to the floor. Also at this time, the use of veneer began. Thin pieces of carved or interesting coloured wood were glued to the carcass of the piece, initially as decorative panels and ultimately over the entire item.

Antiques - 17th Century Furniture

Chairs and settles too, started to change from basic, fairly square and plain designs, becoming more elaborate with carvings and can seats and backs being introduced. The very best pieces, destined for aristocratic houses would be lavishly upholstered. Backs became higher and seats lower.

Trade with the Far East began to have an influence on English furniture. Often, lacquered cabinets with two doors and an arrangement of drawers inside were imported from China and Japan and mounted on stands once they reached England. This was the birth of the process known as "Japanning", imitating the Oriental lacquers by using oil and spirit varnishes.

Towards the end of the 1600s, the influx of craftsmen from Europe when the French expelled the Huguenots and the ascension to the English throne of the Dutch Prince William of Orange brought about a radical change in the types of furniture available. One such, was the writing bureau, much as we know it today; an arrangement of small drawers and cubby-holes inside a cabinet with a hinged drop-down front becoming a flat surface for writing. Initially supported on turned legs, these evolved such that a further solid case became the support, which contained a cabinet or drawers and stood on small feet. Materials also changed, with walnut and rosewood, more decorative than oak, becoming popular

Cabinets on stands proliferated all over Europe. In Italy, they were set with panels of marble and semi-precious stones; in the Low Countries, red tortoiseshell was popular. However, it was the court of Louis XIV of France, which instigated the introduction of really luxurious decoration such as floral marquetry in wood and a new and exotic type of marquetry made of ebony veneer, brass and tortoiseshell and sometimes mother-of-pearl or ivory. André-Charles Boulle is credited by some as having invented this technique, which bears his name. Others, however, insist that he was merely an expert executor of the art but not its inventor.

Antiques - 17th Century Furniture
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Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Antiques [http://antiques.for-fun-and-value.com/]

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Used Furniture

Used furniture is becoming more and more popular with an increasing number of people each year and for good reason... it is cheap, it is unique in some ways and it can bring to your house the vibe the good old days had to offer. You have to remember that today we are facing days where money is a commodity and even though money used to be managed with great care, right now this is a mandatory way of action if you want to still have a decent life style.

Now if you are seriously taking into consideration the possibility of purchasing some used furniture the first thing you should do is not feel ashamed and you should actually feel proud since you are entering the world of practicality and you can now afford to buy some good furniture that has graced the house of someone else before you and that can bring a new vibe to your house.

Antiques

Now before you decide to buy some used furniture you must first take into consideration some critical aspects that will help you choose wisely and that will aid you in the search for some efficient used furniture.

Used Furniture

First of all you have to think practicality. Make sure that the used furniture you are about to purchase will fulfill all your needs and can truly be called a good piece of furniture. If you want to buy a desk for example make sure that you have plenty of storage space for your materials and also that you have space for your personal computer and all it's accessories.

The condition of the used furniture you want to purchase is another very important aspect that you have to take into serious consideration. You are probably going to buy the furniture so that you can use it for a good number of years to follow thus you should make sure that there are no visible or major defects on the furniture simply so that there is a low risk of the furniture being damaged even more after you have purchased it.

The last thing you should do before purchasing some used furniture is research. Make sure that you measure precisely the space that your used furniture is going to occupy and then look for the appropriate items to suit your needs. Also check on the web so that you can compare several prices just to be sure that you make the right choice and then read some reviews to fin out the services that used furniture shops have to offer.

By knowing all this you should be just fine when choosing used furniture and you will also save some money.

Used Furniture

Adrian is the editor of this article. He also writes for http://secondhandfurnitureshops.com/. This is a website where you can find out more about used furniture prices.

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