Tips for a Great Buy at Antique Furniture Auctions
Are you someone who finds modern furniture all too smug and lacking in the sort of character that craftsman in another time could always bring to their creations? To lovers of vintage furniture, life can be a constant search for satisfaction at auction houses one after the other. There are great deals to be had for people who have an eye for quality. That eye needs a great level of ability too. Buying antique furniture at auctions isn't anything like going down to your favorite local antique store. While you are allowed to judge items going on auction closely for quality anywhere, the question of how much you are expected to pay for it comes up only when the bidding actually gets underway. You need to be particularly quick making decisions on the spot over what you are expected to pay for that chest of drawers you have an eye on.
Make full use of the pre-auction inspection, evaluate every piece of antique furniture closely that you believe might be of interest to you, and make a mental note of how high you're willing to go. When the piece you are after is actually on the auction block, you will need to make decisions on the fly. Inspecting antique furniture isn't as straightforward a deal as it sounds though. The first thing to note when you go about inspecting that antique furniture is that natural wood finished with natural techniques (as opposed to wood finished with modern techniques) usually comes with imperfections like little dints and blemishes. These are flaws that give antique furniture their character, and are not to be seen to be a dealbreaker in any way. However, a piece that has so many major flaws that it will need to be refinished can be something to worry about. Antiques that are refinished lose their value.
There are build quality issues to go into when you go about trying to determine how high you can go with a piece of furniture. Legs on any piece of antique furniture are liable to loosen over time. This is less likely to happen though, with designs that make the legs an extension of the furniture itself. Screw-on the legs are to be avoided. At many antique auctions, beds going on the block only have the headboards and the footboards - and no bed rails to go between them. These are to be avoided, because you will have quite a time finding beautiful wooden rails to match the style of bed.
Finally, when you're buying case goods (furniture like cabinets, bookcases and the like), be sure to check for termite damage. This may not be as evident as it sounds. Look to see if there is any sawdust-like stuff in the corners of drawers. If you see the any, it would mean that someone is trying to hide the fact that there is damage at hand that could lower value. Whatever you do, make sure that you keep your wits about you and that you exercise common sense. It doesn't take a lot of specialist knowledge to make the right decision at an auction. It just takes a good gut instinct.
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