# Furniture Appraisal?



## workingpoor (Sep 26, 2011)

Hi everyone! 
I have a piece of furniture that my partner's ex roommate left us. It's in a art deco style (we think) and we're not sure what we're going to do with it. The main plan is to sell it and split the money between us and the ex roommate.

But....

Do we refinish it ourselves and try to sell it or get someone in to appraise it and then sell it?
I know nothing about furniture and their worth and even less about how appraisal works, and how much it would cost to get that done.

Does anyone have experience with this? Any help would be much appreciated.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

i'm no antique dealer, but i'm somewhat knowledgeable about antique pieces.

are you able to post a picturre. There's a far cry between a chair that was mass-produced in an art deco style & one made by a master cabinetmaker during the period that art deco bloomed, that is, during the first half of the 20th century.

appraisers are expensive, you'd hardly want to pay $100 to find out that the piece has garage sale written all over it.

you could research a lot yourself, certainly enough to know whether the piece can be profitably sold or not. I bet you'd be up to this !

first, turn the piece over & examine the underside. You're looking for a portion of bare unvarnished wood, because IDing the wood will tell you quite a lot about the chair. Is the wood grainy ? smooth ? a hardwood or a softwood ? what colour is it ?

you're also looking for old, worn labels glued on by firms such as the original manufacturer or firms that have re-upholstered or repaired the chair over the years.

now that you've had a look at the substructure, do the exposed upper wooden parts appear to be veneered over or are they heavily stained, as compared to the bare wood below ?

are you sure you have got an art deco piece & not a scandinavian modern, which was a wildly popular furniture style that began to be sold in canada in the late 1950s & 1960s. But the 2 styles are quite different.

lastly, please don't even think of refinishing the chair. All antiques are far more valuable with their original finishes. Restoration repair should only be done by an expert. Even some cleaning jobs can harm an original finish, so best just to dust this item from time to time, until you know better what it actually is.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

I'm not sure that the cost of an appraisal is merited except very infrequently. One quick way to determine the rough market cost of your item is to look for similar items on Craigslist - and track whether the listings disappear (all you can get from CL is asking prices, not sold prices). 

Very well-made pieces that are also in favour can command a high price. Art Deco is not a particularly sought-after style right now. If you find evidence that the piece is mass-made, you aren't looking at making a lot of money.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Further to the above, also check on ebay, kijij, usedcalgary (or whatever city you're from) and other websites to see what stuff is selling for. I find the market for used furniture to be weak (IMO) unless it's made of real wood or is collectible. The stuff that most of us buy from big boxes isn't worth much at all. Again that's IMO.

I have a used couch and loveseat set here and I can't even get $75 for both of them in my own building. So I think I'll call a local charity that does free pickups for this sort of thing and can give or sell it to the less fortunate.


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