Help selling "antique" furniture

[Ffxdata]

If you have a friend willing to take it, let them have it.
Auction houses don’t want it. Most dealers won’t want it.
The only thing keeping the entire market from collapsing completely is that older Boomers are selling to younger Boomers.

(The market for true antiques will remain forever, but that means antique as in pre-Industrial Revolution. And certain things will fall in and out of style such as new classics from the 1960s, but those are a tiny fraction of the furniture out there.)

[skeddy]

firewood

[LynchburgLover]

Donate to Habitat for Humanity’s Restore and take the tax deduction

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

That generation still thinks their "stuff" is valuable.

Their stuff should be valuable because it is far better made than the junk that's out there today. That furniture will last practically forever, it's made of wood, not particle board, it's usually well designed too.

I can understand younger people not wanting to spend money and going into debt and I can definitely understand buying experiences rather than material goods. But someday they will probably need some furniture. It's too bad they don't appreciate history and the furniture that represents it and too bad that they don't appreciate quality.

Maybe good quality furniture will come back into style someday, maybe not. Meanwhile, the really great stuff is in museums, thank goodness. And hopefully, there are still people who will buy the great stuff that is in private hands. I think donating it is a good idea. There are poor people out there who will buy it up cheap because they have no other option. They'll have the last laugh--they'll have beautiful, durable furniture that the younger people passed up.

[Ffxdata]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Their stuff should be valuable because it is far better made than the junk that's out there today. That furniture will last practically forever, it's made of wood, not particle board, it's usually well designed too.

I can understand younger people not wanting to spend money and going into debt and I can definitely understand buying experiences rather than material goods. But someday they will probably need some furniture. It's too bad they don't appreciate history and the furniture that represents it and too bad that they don't appreciate quality.

Maybe good quality furniture will come back into style someday, maybe not. Meanwhile, the really great stuff is in museums, thank goodness. And hopefully, there are still people who will buy the great stuff that is in private hands. I think donating it is a good idea. There are poor people out there who will buy it up cheap because they have no other option. They'll have the last laugh--they'll have beautiful, durable furniture that the younger people passed up.

This is just not true. I worked in auction houses, estates, and museums. Most of the furniture out there just isn’t good. Old does not mean good quality. There is plenty of crap furniture from the 1920s-1970s. There was poorly made furniture for different price points before then too. I repeat: Old does not equal good! Sure there are serviceable pieces like the one described in the OP. But I can tell you as a millennial that I have held exactly 0 dinner parties my entire life. I love antiques. I love studying them and have handled some of the best examples in the world. That doesn’t mean I want to live with them. Or have to move them. Or have to worry about them being damaged. It has nothing to do with lack of appreciation. It’s about different priorities.

[Flamingo13]

I agree - old does not equal quality. OP has most likely figured out something.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

I agree - old does not equal quality. OP has most likely figured out something.

Of course old does not equal quality. But most of what is made today is junk. When people are discussing antiques, they implicitly mean "of quality." Obviously some old junk piece of furniture isn't quality. In fact, I still have my grandmother's old china cabinet and it's junk--even says Sears on back, lol. They were poor when they first immigrated to this country.

As long as people are going to need some kind of furniture anyway, it would seem sensible to buy cheap second hand (third or fourth hand) good quality furniture at the same price, or probably cheaper, than brand new Made in China junk.

Where I live now I'm seeing pretty good quality used furniture in the thrift stores. That's where some of the good antiques are ending up, maybe where the OP's stuff ended up too. What I do not get is buying brand new junk from Walmart made of particle board instead of getting it even cheaper and better made from some place like a thrift store.

[sixtus]

Fairauctionco.com might take it. It is an auction house located in Chantilly, VA. They do antique auctions, mid century modern auctions, and others. Google.

[tt003e]

I ended up calling a place in Leesburg. While they didn't want it bc of exactly what other posters have said (no demand) she was kind enough to share the info with her network and we sold it to one of them

[Flamingo13]

Glad you were able to unload it.