Japanese Furniture Article

Refinishing old furniture could cost you big bucks

One word about refinishing antiques is sufficient. Don't. It's not that you can't physically remove the old finish and put on a new one, the problem is that the old finish, no matter how dark and ugly, is extremely valuable to antique collectors. The original finish is part of the provenance, or history of the piece, and therefore can't be removed without losing the most visible proof of its age. Many parts of an antique can be reproduced by experts who professionally repair them for collectors and museums. The repair and restoration of defects such as, broken legs, damaged carvings, and missing pulls, or finials are often difficult to detect, even by other experts. These kinds of repairs do not seriously devalue an important piece and in some cases, if the piece was badly damaged, the value is greatly improved, but the finish, Ah the finish, now that's another story. Think about it this way. The finish on the piece bears the marks of generations of owners who have cared for it. If you scrape away the finish, the history is gone. Like it or not, much of the value of any antique is in its rarity, quality, condition, and original finish. Of course, this discussion applies only to genuine antiques that are potentially valuable. If you have a chest that is say, thirty years old and the finish is so badly worn that the piece is worth very little anyway, then you might just as well go ahead and put a new finish on it, but before you invest the money and the time, look it over very carefully. You may discover that the problem is really a matter of removing thirty years worth of dirt and wax. No matter how much the look of the piece has changed over time, its appearance can be improved greatly by means other than removing the old finish. Stay tuned to The Antique Advertiser for more on the subject of cleaning old finishes and in the meanwhile read the following piece which was written when "gasoline torches" were "state of the art".