Buyers' Guide to Furniture |
Posted: October 21, 2017 |
Whether you’re looking for specific colonial furniture pieces for complementing your home or a perfect accent piece that will fit into your modern apartment, you will find the questions answered below, by experts in upholstery in Guildford, very important in helping you find your ideal furniture piece. What Does Furniture Market Refer To?Furniture as a collecting category has enjoyed a steady track record of growth since 1968. Antique furniture is typically considered 100 years or older and has numerous makes, genres, and styles. Pieces that are most sought after include Colonial, Chippendale, Rococo, and Baroque furniture. Pennsylvanian Dutch, Georgian, and Early American are other popular periods. The desirability of furniture pieces often increases due to its utility, design, provenance, rarity, or other unique features that distinguish it from the rest of the market. For example, the Harrington Commode sold for £3.8 million back in 2010. The rarity and quality of the piece (since it is most likely that Thomas Chippendale himself created it), saw a bidding war between 5 bidders each competing to buy it resulting in a hammer price of close to 3 times its initial valuation. In spite of older and higher end items usually achieving record prices, some areas of the furniture market have enjoyed increasing interest but are still open to less experienced or novice collectors to invest in. Sometimes referred to as antiques (although the most appropriate terms would be Retro. Modern, 20th-century, or mid-century), furniture from the 50’s and 60’s has been steadily rising. The pieces of particular note during this period include those of Scandinavian design as well as work from designers such as G-Plan. Several top London department storefronts have started resembling those from 1951’s Festival of Britain. Does Condition Matter?When it comes to antique furniture, the condition does matter. With that being said, an authentic antique will definitely show some signs of wear and tear. In fact, if you are able to understand where the condition should be, find someone who can help you verify that your piece is an authentic antique and not a fake. For example, antique wooden chairs tend to have more wear on the back legs rather than the front legs because of users leaning back on their chairs continuously. You might also find signs of wear on the top and the end of a wooden arm along with the inside of the arms since these areas are more likely to have been in more regular contact with a person than any other. What Should You Collect?You should collect what you like since you will be actually living with the furniture to an extent. Like with any taste driven market, the popular fashion varies from one region to the next. For example, country and oak furniture typically enjoy a stronger market than other furniture genres in recent years. One hypothesis for explaining this is that people living in the country may prefer furniture that reflects the period when the house was constructed. They also usually have more consistent taste whereas the city and suburban dwellers are more easily swayed by new furniture fashion trends. Collectors should realise that mixing up styles usually has an aesthetic benefit. This is particularly evident in recent years whereby the décor trends have been increasingly leaning towards a mixture of modern and vintage style. For example, a spectacular 18th-century giltwood mirror, which is an item of great skill and beauty can easily fit with a modern interior featuring clean lines. How Can You Find Out the Value of Your Furniture?You will find several online forms and books that can help you when it comes to researching specific pieces of furniture you think might be unique. The easiest way to find out whether you are getting a good deal is to have a valuation done by an impartial appraiser.
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