Invaluable recently contacted me with the following information about when to get your furniture appraised and I thought it was worthwhile sharing with you.
So many people wonder if they should be painting Grandma's antiques. Well you know my view on that - if you own it, go ahead and paint it but you might want to check it's not extremely valuable first. Personally I think so many people over-value their old furniture as I see so much timber furniture selling for cheap prices - even beautiful old cedar pieces - and I think that if you are going to treasure it more painted then go ahead. But you know, I'm no expert ... so here's is the experts guide on When to get an appraisal on your antiques and old possessions.
We all have seen people get lovely surprises on Antiques Roadshow and the like when old things they found in their attics are worth a fortune - has anything like that ever happened to you?
(Most of the furniture I paint is far from valuable. I like to give old tired pieces a second chance and look for old bit that wouldn't sell for much in their current state. If it's expensive, I generally let someone else buy it who will on-sell it as it is. You know I can't resist leaving my mark on things!)
Fiona xx
IT IS REALLY HARD TO GET APPRAISALS AS MANY ANTIQUE DEALERS ARE NOT LIKE THOSE TWINS ON ANTIQUE ROADSHOW AND DO NOT HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE. WHEN I GO TO ANTIQUE AND ESTATE AUCTIONS, THE FURNITURE SELLS THE CHEAPEST.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about people over-valuing their old furniture. I think there is such a lot of pieces aged 30 to 60 years old (not technically antique) that it is easy to find furniture at a reasonable price. I actually like the fact that often my refurbishment of a piece adds more value to it than what it had originally. Here in Perth we don't have a lot of pieces over 100 years old, but even still if it's not something that has been recently imported from Europe, you can still get a really good price on it. And most people will pay well for a genuine wooden piece of vintage furniture done up over made in China, mdf, super expensive French replicas.
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