Dating antique furniture requires a whole lot of work; investigation, detailed looking, and time. It is usually tasking and as such, a lot of people prefer to skip this and hire professionals. However, dating antique furniture on your own isn’t impossible. With the right guidance and dedication, you should be able to. This article would be a comprehensive guide on How to Determine the Age of Antique Furniture. Meanwhile, check out these antique console tables.

Dating Antique Furniture

To accurately determine the age of Antique furniture on your own, the first thing to do is to know the kind of furniture you want to date. Now, of course, the purpose of wanting to date furniture is to know the type. But it’s best to narrow down your search, to further find what you’re looking for by knowing your furniture on a wider scale.

Is it American furniture? Victorian? What style of furniture is it?

After answering this question, you should be able to go further.

Dating American Furniture

American style furniture has Twelve distinct ages viz; early American period, federal period, colonial period, Pennsylvanian period, Sheraton, Victorian, shaker et cetera.

If you do know this, you can easily perform a search on your search engine, and get an answer. But this is often wide and not exact. For instance, if you won a Federal Piece, your furniture was made between 1780 1820. Also, in dating a piece of furniture, you cannot just take a gander at the style and determine as a lot were also reproduced past its heydays.

Hence, below are practical steps to determining the age of antique furniture.

1. Look beyond what you can see; no expert determines the age of antique furniture by a gander at the style. Doing this is the easiest way to get ripped off. Rather, other practical steps are taken
2. Assess the Insides, Back, and Bottoms of the Antique Piece; in doing this, you can easily detect the materials used to create the furniture. You can also tell if it was handmade or created by a machine. Machine-made furniture is not so antique now, is it?
3. Look for imperfections In Symmetry; handmade cabinets and drawers that are handmade are often different in size and shape, this is a visible pointer to the fact that they were made before 1860 when furniture was handmade.
4. What Tools Were Used? Furniture dating way back to 1860 should have chisel marks and nicks in the wood. Furniture dating back to the mid-19th century was made by a handsaw. Here, you would notice a straight pattern and no nicks.
5. Upholstery and Wood; in dating ages of furniture, distinct woods were preferred as well. upholstery. Knowledge of this is a large pointer to when a piece of furniture was created. In the 1700s, mahogany was preferred, in the 1800s, we had the emergence of maple and cherry wood, 19oos saw the popularity of a whole lot of oak

Conclusion

Determining the age of antique furniture requires careful investigation and attention to detail. While hiring professionals is an option, it’s not impossible to do it yourself with the right guidance. How to Determine the Age of Antique Furniture provides a comprehensive approach to this task. By understanding the type and style of the furniture, and examining its construction, materials, and any imperfections, one can glean valuable insights into its age. From assessing the craftsmanship to identifying the tools and materials used, each aspect contributes to unravelling the mystery of an antique piece’s origins. With patience and dedication, anyone can embark on the fascinating journey of dating antique furniture and uncovering its rich history.