News

MacKenzie-Childs backstamp on the base of an enamel piece
How to Find Flips at Goodwill (and Check Them Before You Pay)
Go early after a restock, turn everything over, and check the piece against what actually sold before you pay. A reseller's checklist for thrift stores. Read more...
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith pastel drawing with figures and petroglyphs, c.1980, framed
The $11,875 Pastel We Almost Sold for $531
Our first pass priced an unsigned-looking pastel at $531. A 1999 appraisal named the artist: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, whose work hangs in the National Gallery and the Whitney. Read more...
Set of three inlaid mahogany bookcases sold from a Charlotte downsizing
They Were Told Brown Furniture Doesn't Sell. It Sold in Five Days.
A Charlotte couple retiring to Florida had a house full of walnut and mahogany they were told nobody wanted. Every piece sold within five days of listing. Read more...
Blue Topaz or Sapphire? What the Refractive Index on a Gem Lab Card Tells You
Three gem cards in an estate jewellery lot looked like natural sapphire until they were enlarged. The refractive index on the card ruled sapphire out on its own, and one word under Comments changed the value again. Read more...
How to Buy Antiques Online Without Getting Burned
The single most useful word in an online antique listing is the one most buyers skim past: "style." "Louis XVI style" means built in the manner of — not built in the period. Honest sellers use the word precisely; dishonest ones leave it out. Learn to read it and half the risk of buying antiques online disappears.The vocabulary that protects youPeriod means made in the era named. Style or in the manner of means a later homage. Attributed to is an opinion without documentation. Signed means it carries a signature... Read more...
What Estate Furniture Is Worth Buying (and What to Skip)
Most furniture made before 1980 was built to be repaired. Most furniture made after 2005 was built to be replaced. That one fact explains why estate furniture is usually the best value in the secondhand market — and why the price tags confuse people in both directions.Worth buying almost every timeSolid-hardwood case goods. Dressers, commodes, desks and library tables built from oak, walnut, mahogany or teak. The quartersawn oak library table in our current catalogue has figure you cannot buy new at retail price.Chairs with corner blocks. Flip the chair... Read more...
Solid Wood vs. Veneer: What You're Actually Buying Secondhand
Veneer is not the insult people think it is. A veneered surface — a thin sheet of show wood glued over a core — has been on high-end furniture for over two hundred years, and some of the most valuable pieces that come through our Charlotte estate projects are veneered. What matters when you're buying secondhand isn't "solid versus veneer." It's what the veneer is glued to.The 30-second edge checkLook at an edge where the top meets the side. On solid wood, the grain wraps over the edge and end... Read more...