Antique furniture is to be used and enjoyed as well as admired. Generations of owners leave their mark, adding to the character of pieces great and small.

One of the joys of antique furniture, as with all practical antiques, is that it is a tangible link with the past. Sitting at an 18th-century desk, it is easy to imagine an earlier owner leaning on the same surface, struggling with an important letter. An ink stain or a well-rubbed drawer edge adds to this sense of continuity.

The way antique furniture carries the mantle of age is one of its most appealing characteristics. While porcelain and glass are little altered over the centuries, a piece of furniture changes in subtle ways. Its timbers gradually shrink and mellow through handling, polishing and exposure. This slow maturing gives it a unique patina that cannot be matched — or reproduced — by the finest new pieces.

Antique Collector MagazineFashion in furniture tends to follow price rather than vice-versa. When early Georgian furniture became too expensive for the ordinary buyer, people began to look seriously at late Georgian and Regency pieces. As these too began to get out of reach, Victorian furniture found favour. Such a price spiral helps to broaden taste and open, eople’s eyes to good design and craftsmanship, of whatever period.

Prices — and investment potential — are always affected by the amount of restoration a piece has seen. A big anxiety for buyers is how much damage or restoration is acceptable. Broadly speaking, the rarer the piece, the less the effect of minor damage or restoration. The value of a £20, 000 dining table will not be much affected by a small candle burn, for example, while a table that cost £500 might lose much more in proportion — just because many unmarked pieces of the same standard exist. Genuine old domestic furniture always shows the wear and tear of age, and it is quite likely to have been mended or renovated at some time.

True restoration should be unobtrusive but not pretend to be something it is not; it is a fine line. Replacing a chair leg and colouring it to match the other three is quite different from converting a wardrobe into a bookcase, for example.

Alterations enter the realm of faking in the case of a `marriage’ — where two separate pieces of furniture have been combined to make, say, a table (with a different top and base) — or where a piece has been cut about to alter its proportions. Arm yourself with a mental checklist before buying, to help authenticate a piece. Is the timber correct for the period? Does the form of the piece jell with its purpose and with the fashions of the day when it was supposedly made? Look at it carefully, both close up and from a distance, where proportion becomes more apparent.

Nothing can replace the knowledge and feel that comes from years of studying antique furniture, but a reputable dealer who belongs to a recognised trade body should advise you honestly and stand by his word — though you may well pay more than the auction price. What really matters is the enjoyment you derive from the piece — how happily you can live with it. But nothing is forever; no true collector will hesitate to sell an item so as to buy something better.

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