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June 2005: Selling antiques, part two

June 2005: Selling your antiques - part two

Dear friends, bonjour:

KNOWING AND SELLING YOUR ANTIQUES
I admit it has been a while since my May Letter!
In the meantime, many of you keep asking info about a personal collection or that special antique you inherited or *found* recently. As much as I would love to individually help out all of you, this is truly impossible. When you hit our pages because something similar to what you have is offered for sale, most of the time the information I provide is all we know about that style, period or maker. So I could not tell you more about your antique without extensive research.
Guy and I are antique DEALERS, we buy and sell professionally. All our time is dedicated to do just that. We would love to, but cannot provide specific information to all those who ask us. Nevertheless in this Letter I will give you ideas complementing previous information from what was provided in my August 2004 Letter
http://www.french-corner-antiques.com/newsletter/archives.php

SITES THAT PROVIDE ESTIMATES
For a modest amount, you can get an estimate of your antique, or simply more information about what it is. This is one of the sites:
http://www.emailappraisals.com/index.php?d=misc&event=faq

ONLINE FORUMS
Another source of help comes from internet forums like
What is it worth to you or from the History Channel Club Forum:
http://www.wiw2u.com/cfBB/index.cfm?page=forum&forumID=8
Someone in a discussion group could very well have something similar to your antique!

AND...DOING YOUR OWN SEARCH
Placing a search using words as they appear on the mark or signature of your antique will return a wealth of related sites with photos. But if you have an antique furniture with no mark, you could search using the name of that antique, for instance *armchair*, in conjunction with words like old, antique, used, english, european, continental, louis style, victorian, french, chinese, folding, bergere, fauteuil, regence, dutch, empire, neoclassical, italian, swedish, scandinavian, biedermeier. If nothing similar to yours comes up, try a slightly different word. For instance replace *armchair* with *chair*. If what comes up is not relevant, try with seat, settee, stool, hall chair, ballroom chair, garden chair, slipper chair. I agree it can be time consuming!

By the way, if you are curious and do not know what a slipper chair is, see here:
http://www.french-corner-antiques.com/detail.php?iid=159
Guy and I were not familiar with that curved design when we purchased it. Another dealer suggested the name referred to a bedroom antique furniture. All I can say is that sitting there feels very pleasant and comfortable, with plenty of space next to me to have a notebook and cell phone.

Our new conversation piece is a 19th c. miniature Chippendale style chest of drawers of exquisite proportions:

mettre photo 10125 ici

Guy and I will be on and off home or on the road for several weeks, and will be slow answering our mail. Please bear with us.
Have a wonderful summer!

Till next time,
Guy and Daniele