Specialist Article by Stuart Shuster - What is the Original Antique Look in Furniture?

Guest Editor - Stuart Shuster, from Church Street Antiques

Stuart has owned and run Church Street Antiques, in Marylebone's famous antiques district in London for over 30 years, and specialises in Edwardian, Victorian, English, French, 17th - 20th century furniture. Stuart has extensive expertise of this industry, and offers many services including buying, selling, restoring, commissioning and pricing pieces, as well as house clearances. He has a keen eye for antiques, particularly wooden furniture (especially mahogany, oak, beech, and kingwood), and has given us this piece about the 'antique look' - what is it? What is the most valuable? What should you do with your antique? Read on to hear Stuart's opinion on this very important topic. 

"It often amuses me as to what is considered ‘the original look’ in relation to antique furniture.

For instance, how do you make, say, an antique desk look original? Do you strip & polish it, so that it looks like it was when new 100 years ago? This, strictly speaking, is the original look but obviously it will look new, without a lot of character.  

 Or do you just gently clean the surface & polish over what’s there, giving the piece an older look, with loads of character?

It’s really all a question of taste.
One thing’s for sure, once the old patina has been stripped off, it can’t be replaced. Ask any period furniture dealer & they will tell you not to strip the item if it is period with good original patina, because you will not only lose all of the character but also most of the commercial value.

If the damage has already been done & the piece is devoid of character, then a very good polisher can probably French polish it in the traditional way, to give it a fairly nice look. There is nothing wrong with that & the item should look okay. But to be honest, there are not enough good polishers out there - or should I say a lot of antique dealers can’t really afford to pay for a good polishing job because the final asking price would be too high.

I suppose it’s all about offering a certain look, which will appeal to some & not to others.
I used to regularly exhibit at a very large antique fair where there was always one particular large stand with loads of genuine antique furniture - all of the pieces on this stand looked like they had been stripped with a belt sander & spray polished. Every piece of the furniture looked perfect. There were no indentations or any markings whatsoever. Everything looked new with absolutely no character. To my amazement, this stand always had a high turnover; they used to sell loads. They obviously had their own following.

Like I said, it’s all a question of taste." 

For Stuart's site, if you're searching for gorgeous Victorian furniture, especially large mahogany, oak, Burr walnut, leather pieces, Stuart has extensive and constantly-changing stock. Click here for his Interior Boutiques page to see his Boutique Shop:

http://interiorboutiques.com/en/church-street-antiques

The three featured items in this article's images are linked here:
Antique Victorian Mahogany Pedestal Desk http://interiorboutiques.com/en/antique-victorian-mahogany-pedestal-desk
Antique French Walnut Salon Taupe Armchairs http://interiorboutiques.com/en/pair-of-antique-french-walnut-salon-taupe-armchairs
Antique Burr Walnut Cocktail Drinks Cabinet http://interiorboutiques.com/en/antique-burr-walnut-cocktail-drinks-cabinet

For more items, check out Interior Boutiques advance search to search for specific items you're hunting for:
http://interiorboutiques.com/Catalog/ShopByCategory