Do you think this is old or reproduction?

I apologize for the dust and spiderwebs in advance. This is my dad's and since my mom passed his house doesn't get dusted as regular as it once was.

Anyways, him and my mom bought this years ago. It was in and antique shop and they wanted 3500 but my mom thought that was too much. She waited and the antique shop ended up going out of business and she bought it in the auction for 1500. So I guess she was happy.

My dad seems to think it is older than originally thought but there is no markings on it anywhere. It surely has been recovered and maybe even refinished at some point but I am not furniture expert. Anyone have any clue how old this may actually be or how we can tell without loading it up and taking it somewhere?

Thanks so much.

 

All looks orig to me-have not seen any repros of that style.

 

Well that's good. Thank you. Now for the really dumb question. What style is it? LOL!

 

I always just thought of it as Victorian but I don't know if that is even a style.

 

Late Victorian circa 1900 parlor set. Looks like mahogany. Somewhat Empire Revival in form but all that added carving is very much late Victorian. Good thing your mom did not pay full price for this. I don't think you could even get what she paid today, though it was probably a fair price at the time. $3500.00 at any time and place would have been excessive. I understand why the antique shop went out of business.

 

Thanks I had been looking at all the old furniture styles but they all seemed to blend together to me. I did come to the conclusion that it was probably 1900's but couldn't decide what style. I had kind of thought Empire Revival so that makes me feel pretty good that you saw a little of that too. Maybe my eye isn't that bad after all.

My dad will be somewhat disappointed to hear it isn't worth much. Oh well I will just keep digging for a great treasure maybe one day I will find one. LOL! Thank you very much for all the information.

 

Your settee is my fave. I LOVE furnishings like that. Its a wonder why they lost popularity? I guess I have a very nostalgic soul?

 

Thanks I had been looking at all the old furniture styles but they all seemed to blend together to me

Around 1900, that's what they did for the makers, too. They designed by blender, bit of this, bit of that. Artistically you'd call it the incoherent period, neither fish nor fowl not good red herring. Queen Anne legs, Sheraton bodies, Regency touches here and there, Early Victorian splats, all with well stuffed seats.

Good practical well made stuff that will do another hundred years and may well be back in fashion in ten.

 

In the 80s this stuff was white hot and sold for big money. Now stores have a hard time giving it away. That may be starting to change with the less ornate stuff and smaller pieces. The big ones are still a tough sell.

 

af, lunacy rules the world of furniture. A gorgeous Georgian mahogany chest of drawers sells for under a hundred? Simple, plain, well made and utterly functional, yet people buy Ikea crap.

 

I hate Ikea stuff,YUCK!
I want solid wood not particleboard with a faux wood top like most stores sell now a days

 

Hi Bear,
Years ago I went to Altmans to buy some bedroom furniture. The salesman and were talking while I was looking at a chest of drawers. It was Thomasville and cost 1800 dollars. The salesman asked do you want to spend that much? I said not really and he said come with me. Took me over to the Antiques area. Low and behold there was an English Georgian chest of drawers circa 1810 for 850 dollars. he said in 10 yrs it will be worth 2000. He was right. I have only bought two new pieces of furniture since. I have never been in an Ikea.
greg

 

New stuff depreciates, old stuff appreciates. Unless it's ornate Victorian and huge, in which case it stagnates... if you're lucky.

 

Yeah its Victorian Mahogany and definitely not a repro except for the webbing in the last image which looks like under the seat of the rocker. Like the carving too.