Finding who made an antique piece of furniture? We have an infirm china cabinet that has be in the...
We have an infirm china cabinet that has be in the home for a few generations, and i be curious to find more information about it. Where would i find the originator? I've looked everywhere without much luck. Help!
Answers: One place you can look is to attain a few pictures of your piece and take them to as oodles appraisers as you can find. See what their initial impression is. Those guys hold to go into people's houses and make available an appraised value for furniture adjectives the time - that makes them rather good at guessing the age and probably even the maker of a piece.
Then you can progress to the library and get books on furniture and see if you can spot any queue of antiques which look like yours.
Also lift a look at your old piece - what is the stern made of? How are the hinges made - cup - is it wavy. Look for dovetail joint, old square nail, parts that still have the jack plane grades on them from when they made the board. All these things help date a piece too.
Start by examining every inch of the piece. Furniture maker have be putting their stamps on furniture for centuries. Even if you don't see something that looks like a author name, but a stamp of some sort, search the internet for anything the seal say.