Duffy's Antiques & Militaria Depot

Home Antique Furniture Bedroom Antiques Collectibles Kitchen Antiques Antique Hardware Militaria Lighting Paintings, Prints, Photographs

Antique shops: Tips for buying antique furniture

There are so many antique shops out there that it is difficult to know where to start. Below we have drawn up a list of handy tips to help you

Visit lots of different antique shops to compare products and prices and take time to consider your purchase fully

When buying any furniture make sure that the antique shop will provide a money back guarantee if you feel that the item does not meet with your expectations. This is particularly important if you are buying based on what you have seen from their website

Always spend the most you can on your antique furniture, as the quality and desirability of the piece is reflected by the price you pay. Look at it like an investment and remind yourself that you are buying something of value that can be passed on to future generations. Antiques tend to appreciate in value over the years, so it is likely to be worth a lot more one day

Don’t forget to consider extra insurance

Think carefully about the size of the piece of antique furniture and where it’s going to go in the house. Mark out the actual area and check that it is big enough for your requirements and that all the furniture will fit in. Try to avoid going for furniture which is too large or which makes the room feel over-crowded. Take your tape measure with you to the antique shop

Be practical – plan to buy furniture for an area where it won’t get easily damaged by young children or pets. Think about how much use it is going to get and whether you are buying it more for show purposes or for practical use. Will you mind if it gets scratched?

Consider what will go well with the other furniture you already have in the house. For example, do you have quite rustic-looking furniture, simple-looking furniture or something more ornate? By taking this into account, your new addition will not look out of place

Think about the colors scheme of a room and how your antique furniture might fit in. Remember, depending on the type of wood used and the finish, antique furniture comes in all different shades and colors and it will also have different colored upholstery

Think about the ambiance you want to create. Antique furniture is very elegant and sumptuous and will look better in some rooms than others. For example, it may be too dark and heavy for a light-colored room, but it would go especially well if you had wooden flooring or in a room with a warm color-scheme

Antique shops: How to spot fake goods

The next time you buy something from an antique shop, be sure you are not being duped

Even antique experts can be fooled into buying fakes, so how is an ordinary member of the public supposed to know whether they are purchasing a fake in an antique shop or the real thing? Only experience and knowledge can help you through this minefield, but here are some tips to help you avoid it.

Furniture:

Be wary if something seems cheap for what it is supposed to be. Don't assume the antique shop has made a mistake

When buying furniture, stand back and look at the whole piece. Does it look right? Are the legs in the same style as the top or are they more or less elegant than the rest? Could it be two separate pieces of furniture put together to make one? This is particularly common with dressers

You might think that woodworm holes are a good sign of age. Unfortunately, that is not necessarily so. They could have been put in the piece with a spike. The best way to tell is look at them through a magnifying glass and see if there are tiny cracks coming from the hole - woodworm don't do that

Look carefully at anything that is described as antique pine. A lot of supposedly antique pine furniture has been made up from old floorboards or paneling, so the wood is antique, but the piece of furniture is not

Scrutiny of an item often reveals its true age. For example, examine furniture to determine if the manufacturing methods are consistent with the piece's alleged age. Ask yourself, what type of wood was the piece made from? Are there signs of shrinkage? Does the piece show signs of authentic wear or age? Is there evidence of modern tools or construction methods? Has the item been glorified, altered or converted from something else? Does the interior smell old? Are there signs of repair or refinishing? If the item passes these preliminary tests, consider the purchase

Silver

There is a very simple way to tell if something is genuine silver; by smelling it. Try smelling an item that you know is silver and then you'll get the idea

If silver jewelry has a small gold tip on the clasp, it usually means it is platinum

China:

Look for authenticating watermarks

Synthetic ivories:

Keep an eye out for these faux ivory names: 'celluloid', 'casein', 'French ivory', 'ivoride' or 'ivorine'. With fake ivory, the grain patterns are added, so look out for very regular patterns as genuine ivory is more irregular

Antique shops: Buying antiques online

Antique shops are increasingly selling their wares online

In recent years there has been enormous growth in the antiques market. This has been helped in part by the popularity of programmes such as The Antiques Roadshow and Cash in the Attic. Antique shops are continuing to spring up in towns and cities, with no sign of a slow-down.

Consumers now have more choice than ever before, so before you commit to buying anything from anywhere, you have to make sure that you know what you want. There are some general things which you need to consider, as you would if you were buying from a high street antique shop and some which are specific to internet purchases.

Cost

It doesn’t matter if you are looking for an antique dining room table, a French woven tapestry or a Victorian dressing table, you have got to decide how much you can afford before you make any purchases.

Size

Unless you are buying old comics or other memorabilia, you will probably need to give consideration to the size of the piece. Good quality antique furniture is expensive so make sure that it is going to fit before you buy it. Measure the space you’ve got, remembering to leave enough room for people to move around, as the last thing you need is to discover it doesn’t fit.

Advantages to buying from antique shops online

More and more people are choosing to buy online and not without good reason:

Convenience – shopping for your antiques on the internet means that you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home and it will be delivered straight to your door.

Internet deals – prices tend to be a lot lower on the internet. It’s all to do with supply and demand. Vendors could potentially have the whole world as their market and the way to compete is by offering high quality products at low prices. Even with shipping costs you tend to end up paying less. Many companies offer free delivery within the UK and US.

Choice – the variety of products available online is enormous. You can buy some antiques, for example, that just aren’t available from high street antique shops and this makes what you buy more individual.