How do I identify an antique furniture maker?

A telltale sign of the furniture’s maker is a manufacturing tag, label or stamp bearing the name of the creator. Such a marking or label may have been placed inside a drawer on an old dresser, on the back of a chest of drawers, or on the underside of a chair or sofa seat.

What is an old piece of furniture called?

Vintage furniture is anything that’s at least 20 years old. If a piece of furniture is at least 20 years old, but has been restored, it’s still considered vintage. Within the vintage category, newer pieces, especially those dating from the 1950s to1980, are generally considered retro.

How do I know if my furniture is William and Mary?

Woods Used Painted and lacquered finishes (in the Chinese style) were common, with walnut and maple readily used. The dark look inherent in walnut, in fact, was popular at this time and is characteristic of the William and Mary look. Pine, cedar and some oak can be found in these pieces as well.

What year is antique furniture?

Furniture that is at least 100 years old is classified as “ANTIQUE”.

How can you tell if furniture is Georgian?

Common motifs found in neclassical, Georgian furniture designs are Greek key, vetruvian waves, egg and dart or beaded borders, reeded or fluted tapering legs, amphorae, swags and festoons to name but a few! They are light and delicate in their design, but without compromising on ornamentation.

What is Jacobean style furniture?

Jacobean furniture was often geometric and symmetrical, with a strong influence on rectilinear shapes and lines. It was straightforward in design but decorated with carvings of classical or intricate geometric motifs.

How long has furniture been in New England?

Historic New England’s furniture collection spans four centuries and suggests the range of styles, forms, and types of furniture New Englanders have lived with over time. This well-documented collection teaches us about the variations of regional styles, the shift from craft to industrial production, and changing patterns of household consumption.

What was the style of furniture in the 1660s?

The 1660 restoration of Charles II, who had been in exile in France, brought to England a new design sensibility based on the court fashions of Louis XIV. Known as the early Baroque, this style combined Continental and Asian influences in furniture forms that were at once richer and more curvilinear, with more vertical proportions.

What kind of furniture was used in colonial America?

American furniture of the early colonial period generally falls into two stylistic categories: the Seventeenth-Century style (1620–90) and the Early Baroque, or William and Mary, style (1690–1730).

Where did Furniture Makers Live in the seventeenth century?

Although hundreds of furniture makers worked in the English- and Dutch-speaking colonies of America in the seventeenth century, only a handful can be identified today. In New England, two of the best-documented are William Searle and Thomas Dennis, who trained in Devonshire, England, and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, during the 1660s.