How Do You Tell If Furniture Is Antique

You can identify antique furniture using a few different methods though sometimes its easier to take it to an antique dealer.

How do you tell if furniture is antique. Reproductions are symmetrical smooth and the flaws are contrived rather than authentic. How to Determine the Age of Antique Furniture Look Past the Style of a Piece. When you are trying to determine the age of piece you cannot just look at furniture.

This may include the manufacturer the patent number the materials used and other information. By examining the shape and condition of the furniture nails and screws as well as the wood and finish you can get a fairly good idea of when the furniture was built and possibly by whom. When identifying antique chairs its important to have a basic knowledge of the significant design periods and the important types of chairs.

3 Next look at the outside back. Is the bottom solid wood or laminated plywood. Oak is highly popular in furniture that dates from 1700 to earlier years.

Look under chairs and drawers anywhere unexposed to see if those parts are constructed with a different type of wood than the rest of the piece. The term butterfly refers to the wing-shaped braces that hold the leaves up when they are in use. How can you tell if furniture is antique.

Signs of age will be evident on older furniture. A good place to start when identifying furniture is often to figure out what period its from. Examine Bottoms Insides and Backs.

There are various styles. Furniture is a category unto itself in the world of antiques. Beware of furniture thats made to look old.