Antique collections often feature completely usable furniture from various historic eras. Because it didn’t rely on mass production and power tools, antique furniture is often more durable and of greater value than most of the stuff made today. Collecting antique furniture usually requires some knowledge about age, how many pieces remain usable today, its condition and use, along with some of the unique features built into a piece of furniture.

The appearance and condition of antique furniture are actually more important than age in assessing the value of a piece. A 200-year-old table for example, may be beyond repair with water damage. Or it may be missing a leg or two that cannot be restored, turning that old hunk of wood into firewood. But a look at the construction of the piece can help to assess its quality and also the period it comes from, if you know what to look for.

Beyond age and functionality, the piece of antique furniture should still be serviceable. So, if all the right conditions are met, it should be possible to sit down on an antique chair and trust that it won’t fall apart. Since nails and other metal fasteners were rarely used on most furniture, the means with which the different pieces are held together can be an indication of its age.

Antique Furniture Restoration Is An Art Form

A majority of antique furniture pieces need repair of some type or another, and not just anyone has the ability to restore them to mint condition. The value and quality are affected by the quantity of wood that needs to be replaced. When choosing a pice of antique furniture, a serious collector won’t look at anything containing replacement wood that exceeds 25 percent.

Most antique furniture was made of mahogany, oak, pine, walnut and rosewood. It’s value as an antique will be impacted by the kind of wood it was made from. Restoring antique furniture requires the same species of wood to be used as in the original construction. It’s not that easy to find someone who is able to make a replica of a table leg using the same type of wood and duplicating the look of the grain.

These days, antique furniture replicas are churned out by factories; they’re made from laminates that copy the grain and pattern of the commonly used woods in antique furniture. However, with these pieces it is easy to spot the difference between the original construction and today’s mass-produced items.