How to Tell if Old Furniture is Valuable

Can you relate to this moment, when, while scavenging a Thrift Store or Flea Market, your heart jumps and anticipation breeds sweaty palms as your eyes examine a unique piece of old furniture? Perhaps you instantly recognized the style as William and Mary or just something about the unique piece baits further investigation. However, excitement turns sour as you stand in the moment of indecision. How do you tell if this old furniture is valuable?

Collecting “antique” furniture has the potential to become just as expensive as a lottery ticket obsession. Your goal is to make money, not waste money. Fear birthed from inadequate knowledge leaves you stuck in the aisle with the distasteful weight of uncertainty.

Do not worry, you are not alone, almost every ambitious old furniture collector, shares moments like these.

How would you like to make your indecision as archaic as the old furniture you are hoping to find? If so, this blog will equip you with some helpful tips on how to tell if old furniture is valuable. Enjoy investing in only the old furniture that will love you back! Or ensure that you won’t walk away from an extremely valuable antique.

Basically, our aim is to make old furniture hunting as leisure and fun as widow shopping!

Ways to Decipher Whether Old Furniture is Valuable

Old Furniture Styles Offer Clues

Knowing the styles can help you identify old and valuable furniture faster, however, take note of the following tip.

Style Does not Guarantee its Valuable

It is helpful to identify the style of old furniture. However, the style of the old piece of furniture does not necessarily mean that it coincides with its original era.  In other words, the discovery of a Queen Anne Armchair in GOODWILL does not mean its creation falls anywhere between 1720 – 1760. Recent reproductions of the styles may resell at a great price, but do not hold the same value as a true antique.     Basically, the style offers a clue and potential for being valuable and the following section of the blog will give you tips for determining whether it is an antique.  

Here are some of the oldest styles along with their eras to keep an eye out for:

William and Mary: 1690-1730

Queen Anne: 1720-1760

Chippendale:1755-1790

Rococo: 1845-1870

Familiarize yourself with all the styles and their eras by checking out a Primer for Furniture Styles.

8 Great Tips on Identifying Whether Furniture is Old & Valuable

Whether you bought the old looking piece of furniture or you are still standing in the store, these following tips are for you!

1. Find Out What it is Worth

This tip applies if you have already bought the piece of old furniture. If you are suspicious of a valuable find, do not refurbish it, paint it, or do anything to it! Get it appraised first. If you alter it from its original condition, its value is diminished. It is the ideal to get it appraised, and especially if the following tips for identifying how to tell if old furniture is valuable applies to your piece.

2. Examine the Dovetails

The dovetails are the joints that hold together the furniture. They offer a clue because if the furniture is old it will have hand-cut dovetails instead of machine generated dovetails. Basically, look for irregular shaped joints. If the joints are perfect, then the piece is not truly old. If they are irregular, there is a greater chance that the furniture is old and potentially valuable.  

3. Do the Pieces Match?

If all the pieces of wood and hardware match, then the piece of furniture is more likely to be a recent factory reproduction. However, take note of the wood used to create the piece of furniture. Is it different types? For example, if walnut and maple wood adorn the outside of an old piece of furniture and southern pine is used behind the scenes, that sounds a bell for a genuinely old furniture piece. If the whole furniture piece is of uniform wood, it is less likely to be an antique.

4. Search for Dates, Labels, or Stamps

Do a thorough search over the entire piece for any clues to its age. Look for inscribed dates, labels, or even stamps. This would be amazing discovery! Although, it is more unlikely for really old pieces to have such ideal giveaways, don’t let that deter you. Take a moment and go over the old piece with a fine comb.

5. Does it Have the Original Finish?

If the finish has drips or runs when you inspect the bottom of the old piece of furniture (just turn it upside down), then that could indicate that it is refurbished. This may not matter if the furniture underneath the paint or stain is indeed old (and the color coincides with the current color trends). However, it will detract from its value if the piece is a rare find or depending on your marketing audience. For example, if a wooden chest is dated over 100 years old and is never restored (left in its original condition) the value skyrockets.

6. Keep an Eye Out for Single Slot Screws

This clue is often overlooked in identifying old and valuable furniture. However, handmade single slot screws hint to the age of your furniture. No two handmade single slot screws will be identical. “The edges are often flat, since they were filed into shape, and the tip is invariably blunt since the smith just cut it off. And the overall shape of the entire screw is cylindrical rather tapered as is the case in modern screws.” This is a quote from Worth Point on how to tell if old furniture is valuable by the clue of old screws.

7. Hardware Should Differ

Those fancy drawer knobs may look stunning, but if all the hardware such as locks, additional doorknobs, etc. are all the same, factory alert. Diverse hardware on old furniture increases the piece’s likelihood for being older and more valuable.

8. Avoid Painted (or Painting) Hardware

If a piece of furniture is old-looking, but you notice that the hardware is painted over, be wary. One, the furniture has been refurbished, which may or may not decrease value. Two, take note and never paint over hardware in the future until you are positive of old furniture’s value. Some good intentioned refurbishing can end is a permanent decrease of value.

Hear it From a Professional!

Check out this word from Dr. Lori, PhD, and professional appraiser of antiques. In this short episode she shares some of the above tips on how to tell if old furniture is valuable.

There You Have It Folks!

Hopefully these 8 great tips equip you to fearlessly and successfully purchase old furniture that will give you a return on your money investment! Or these 8 great tips can help you find a valuable piece of old furniture that can be passed down through your familial generations to come.

Start a Family Antique for the Future!

Just as William and Mary became a sought-after piece of furniture after centuries gone by, why not start your own family antique for the future!

Thoughtfully purchase a piece of furniture that will continually increase in value as time passes.

Remember:

• Choose handcrafted
• High quality wood
• Exclusive craftmanship
• Unique beauty

Rare Wooden Chests Fit the Above Criteria

While many different types of specialty furniture could fit the above criteria, nothing fits quite as perfectly as an intricate wooden chest! Why not create your own antique chest for the future with a Amish Handcrafted chest? These handcrafted chests offer you the quality, intricacy,  and exclusivity needed for starting a truly valuable antique. As mentioned earlier, once chests pass the 100-year mark and if never restored, it is considered a genuine antique. Talk about knowing how to tell if old furniture is valuable!

Discover which gorgeous wooden chest appeals to your tasteful eye and start enjoying a piece of furniture that is valuable now and ever more in the future!

This is the end of our blog. Hope you enjoyed it!
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Header Photo Credit: AD