Antiquing

The first piece of advice when you are thinking of antique furniture repair is to stop. Don’t do anything until you’ve read this blog – it could save you (or gain you) thousands.

Every antique dealer has horror stories to share — there’s the woman who stripped the old paint off of an antique table before showing it to the expert who had to tell her she had devalued it by half when she stripped the paint, or vintage candelabras ruined by well-meaning jewelers.

The best piece of antique furniture repair advice you can get is to have an expert or a dealer with a great deal of knowledge look at the piece before you begin any repair.

Since they likely don’t deal in antique furniture repair themselves, they are not likely to give you self-serving advice, and you have the potential of preventing real damage to the piece.

If you have some woodworking or metalworking skills and a knowledge of antiques, there may be repairs you can complete and still preserve or even increase the value of the piece.

If you have only a minor scratch, then you could try a good quality scratch cover. Howard’s Restore a Finish is one that does well with surface scratches and other marks.

More significant marks may require the use of a furniture marker. You’ll need to purchase a marker in the same color as the furniture you’re touching up for the best results. If you have a dark piece and you’re debating between a lighter and darker maker, you may want to choose the darker version. The eye doesn’t differentiate the darker color, but may notice the lighter.

Crayon type fillers work well for small cracks. Run the crayon over the crack several times to let the waxy substance fill the crack. Some 0000 steel wool rubbed over the crack will remove extra residue.

After consulting with a professional, you may repair small nick or dings or missing veneer with Quick Wood, an epoxy based substance that sticks to nearly any surface.

There are also repair cover powders that allow you to repaint over the repair, but it’s a job for professionals in most cases.

For antique furniture repair of dirty pieces, there are products you can use to clean and restore to life to an area that needs to be cleaned. Oz cream is one of the standards used by antique specialists and furniture lovers everywhere, or you can buy the kits that contain cleaner, buffer and shiners that are great for cleaning your antique furniture.

You should expect to pay about $60 for the cleaning kit. Using this method requires a bit of elbow grease, but the results are worth it. One caution; be sure you don’t rub too hard, or you will remove the finish from the furniture.

Replacing old latches with newer, magnetic style latches is an easy antique furniture repair, but is not always the recommended repair. Before replacing a sticky latch, try 3 in 1 oil on the latch and see if it fixes the problem. Consult a professional before replacing a latch.

Photo Credits: arekd

Originally posted 2009-06-06 05:55:56. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Depression Glass Antiques -> Decorative Arts -> Glass The history of Depression Glass is actually quite fascinating and it is a true testimony to its appeal that decades later it is still in high demand. These colorful glass items were made to be cheap, they had to be in order to sell......
• Antique Doors Antiques -> Architectural and Garden -> Doors Antique doors have much to offer the private collector and many of these, depending on the materials used, and the designer may actually be worth quite a lot of money. Whether you are looking for a collectible that you can put to good......
• Antique Chinese Parrot Antiques -> Asian -> Chinese If you are interested in a unique Asian collectible that is sure to get plenty of discussions going, antique Chinese parrots are an excellent choice. These delightful decorative collectibles come in many different shapes and styles and many are vibrantly colored and well designed. Most......
• Antique Lamps Antiques -> Decorative Arts -> Lamps There is a huge market right now for collectible antique lamps and these functional decorative collectibles can brighten any home. If you’re looking for a collectible that is not only beautiful but also functional, antique lamps are the perfect answer. There are literally hundreds......
• Antique Collection Some people falsely believe that the passion for accumulating a variety of antique treasures in an antique collection is an addiction, such as being a pack rat, but this is not actually true. The truth about going antiquing is that while it may be infectious, it is certainly not a......

• How to Refinish Furniture When it comes time to replace your furniture, you may be able to save money and refinish the piece of furniture. What that entails is to remove the old finish, prepare for the new finish, and then apply the new finish. A little bit of effort can save you a......
• Isn't a growing toddler supposed to drink less milk? As I understand it from other mummies, their little toddlers who have just passed the stage of babyhood are now consuming more solid food and less formula. It makes sense to me too and I've always assumed the same. But my little boy doesn't seem to be slowing on the......
• Door Installation Instructions for Knocked-Down Pre-Hung Doors Doors are something in our homes that we often take for granted. On the surface they are fairly simple, but as with most things in the home they’re a lot more difficult to deal with when you’re doing it yourself. Below you’ll find some door installation instructions to help you......
• How to Fix Kitchen Cabinets In the kitchen, one of the biggest points for decor in the kitchen are the kitchen cabinets. The cabinets in a home are meant to last for the life of your home. However, there are things that are unexpected which can cause damage to your cabinets, their doors, hinges, drawer......
• Consolidating Loans Warnings by Denzel Abintenk Getting out of debt is something that everyone who is in debt wants to do. Consolidating loans may seem like the best way to go if you owe money to several different creditors but it isn't always the best way to keep your money headed in the......

• One Piece Japanese, Anime Animation Art, Characters Collectibles
• Sheer Cover Foundation Makeup Store
• Cover Girl Foundation Makeup Store

There are a variety of different ways that you can collect antiques, and one of the most important considerations in the antique collecting arena is antique pricing. Understanding how antique pricing is figured out is an important part of collecting antiques because it will influence how you purchase antiques and how you sell them or display them in the future. The more that you know and understand about antique pricing, the better off you will be in the grand scheme of things, so consider this information on antique pricing and how it is done.

Before they buy antiques, most people typically browse all kinds of resources including printed antique catalogs. One search on Amazon.com will show you that there are all kinds of different books available on antique pricing and how it is done. If you are curious to understand how antique pricing is determined and compiled, you will need to do some research. Let us go over three different concepts that are used for when it comes to gathering antique pricing information, including the first which is intrinsic value, the second which is current price in the market and the third which is pricing from antique appraisal experts.

First and foremost, all antique items are checked for intrinsic aspects that include condition and rarity. Just like with all economic trades, antique pricing is affected by rarity most of all just like most products are affected by the relationship between supply and demand. The rarer that a particular item is, the more expensive it will generally become as a result. Rarity is really only one side of this coin, however, because there is another element of intrinsic value that goes into determining antique pricing, which is condition, and which is also quite crucial to how an antique will be priced. If there are any chips, cracks or other flaws, the antique pricing can be significantly reduced.

There is another element that goes into determining antique pricing which is the current market value of the antique. These current market prices for antiques come from three different sources which are auction results, guide prices that are observed in shows and stores and prices that are gathered through the surveying of dealers.

Most antique pricing comes as a result of a combination of all three of these things mentioned above. When you use a combination of the three and you average out the results, reliable information can be come by. After you check out the information above, validate your information by speaking with a professional. There are a myriad of antique appraisers out there both online and off that determine the right antique pricing. A good appraiser will let you know about the pricing of your antique, determining whether you have a one in a million priceless treasure or just another trinket.

Photo credits: Anyhoo

• Antique Dishes Dealers -> Glass -> Plates Collecting antique dishes can be a fun and rewarding hobby, but it’s probably not going to be an easy one! Because of the wide variety of dishes available from so many sources, you’ll probably have to brush up on your knowledge of dishes and dinnerware.......
• Sideboard Dealers -> Furniture -> Cabinets-Armoires-Cupboards A sideboard is a piece of furniture used to display China or to set food out while dining. The sideboards we’re familiar with first appeared in the 1700s, but became more popular in the 1800s when more people had dining rooms to eat in, and......
• Antique Chinese Parrot Antiques -> Asian -> Chinese If you are interested in a unique Asian collectible that is sure to get plenty of discussions going, antique Chinese parrots are an excellent choice. These delightful decorative collectibles come in many different shapes and styles and many are vibrantly colored and well designed. Most......
• Antique Lamps Antiques -> Decorative Arts -> Lamps There is a huge market right now for collectible antique lamps and these functional decorative collectibles can brighten any home. If you’re looking for a collectible that is not only beautiful but also functional, antique lamps are the perfect answer. There are literally hundreds......
• Using the Internet for Antique Appraisals Do you know how to use the internet for the purpose of obtaining antique appraisals? There is no reason why you cannot make good use of the internet in order to determine the value of your collectibles and your antiques. Keep reading. So, do you think that you may have......

• Cash Registers Collectibles -> Banks-Registers-and-Vending Some of us remember going into the local Mom & Pop shop and having our penny candy rang up on a tall brass cash register. Some of us have seen such registers in dime stores or in antique stores. There are many things to be appreciated about......
• Domain Name Valuation - Are Estimators and Appraisals and Experience Bogus? Part I Having domains names and maintaining renewal fees is one cost that is fixed as a domainer (more or less).  That we all know.  But if you are in the market to sell domains (or keep them), what is a way to evaluate and put a price on domains? If there......
• Where To Find Stock Market Ticker by Anne Durrell A stock market ticker is a banner that contains a constant scrolling of current stock prices. It provides real time information about the stock market. Some stock market ticker will also provide new and information about the market, especially if something exciting is happening. Many stock price......
• Weakon 236: Stock Indexes (Indices) Indices is a plural of index, unfortunately for the English language, so is indexes.  I'll use both so you can be familiar with both terms.  I like indexes though because it's easier to say. We've talked about index funds in the mutual fund courses.  Index funds seek to mirror the......
• How to Start an Online Business Part 5: Search Engine Optimization or How to Become Visible Imagine, if you will, that you have just started a business in Tokyo, New York, or Mexico City, (three of the largest cities in the world). Your business occupies a ten by ten foot space down a dark alley. The alley is only four feet wide. There are no other......

• Combination Sets Power Tools Tools Home Improvement