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A Lesson in Identifying Furniture Age

HometoCottage.com A Lesson in Identifying Furniture Age

In the entry area of our living room, in our 100 year old house by the stairway, is a small sectioned off part of the room. On the end wall of that space this vintage breakfront secretary with bubble glass now sits. It fits so well, it looks like it was made for the space.

Here’s how this beautiful piece found its way into our home, and a quick lesson in identifying furniture age.

At first glance, one might think this is a true antique piece of furniture, (antique being at least 100 years old). It has the handsome details of an Early American piece in its rich mahogany wood… Sheraton? Hepplewhite?

Beautiful egg and dart detail across the top.

HometoCottage.com egg and dart top cornice detail

The drop front drawer slides out to reveal the secretary desktop.

HometoCottage.com secretary drawer

Flanking each side of the secretary desktop are two faux drawers that are large cabinets.

HometoCottage.com secretary faux drawer

Oh and that bubble glass top…

HometoCottage.com bubble glass top

It seems to have a life in itself, as the light bounces off it’s fascinating curves.

You can see from the inside of the doors,

HometoCottage.com bubble glass from inside

how the glass is curved out for each wood trim on the front. I have no idea how they would have made that, but it’s gorgeous.

But this piece is not an antique… Yep, that’s right, this mahogany breakfront secretary was actually made in the 1950’s.

How do I know that?

It does take some investigative work to figure out the approximate age of furniture, but it’s not really that hard. And of course, there are always exceptions to dating furniture that one must consider, like if a piece was damaged and parts had to be remade etc. So when trying to determine the age you have to consider as much as you can with the piece.

When I’m trying to identify the age of a particular piece of furniture, I always start with the drawers.

Just the basic construction of a drawer will reveal so much about the true identity of a piece.

Hmm… I think there’s a lesson there about people too… something about the outside, though it may look good, doesn’t reveal what’s really inside a person…

HometoCottage.com dovetailing on drawers

This breakfront secretary is a good piece of furniture, meaning it is quality built. The side of its drawer show the dovetailing that shows that quality.

But the dovetailing is machine made.

You can tell by how perfect and uniform it is. The machine to make that style of dovetailing wasn’t invented until 1900… so a period Early American piece this is not. (and just to double check this one drawer wasn’t a repaired drawer, all the drawers were built this same way)

My mom used to work at a bank and I remember her telling me when I was a little girl, the way they were trained to tell if someone was trying to pass off counterfeit money was not studying counterfeit money, but actually studying the real stuff… feeling, looking etc at real money all day, they could easy detect the fake money right away.

That’s how it is with determining antique furniture too…

Study the real stuff, and you’ll very easily recognize the new stuff once you open the drawers on it.

Here’s a different drawer from a different antique piece of furniture I have:

HometoCottage.com handmade dovetail drawer

That is an example of a handmade dovetail joint. By hand, it’s just not going to be perfectly uniform.

A while back I showed you a Victorian piece of furniture my parents have. It has this lovely scallop and peg joinery on the drawers.

HometoCottage.com scallop and peg drawer

You can read all about that beautiful Eastlake piece of furniture here. This scallop and peg was made by a machine, dating to mid 1800’s, and was replaced by the dovetailing machine in 1900.

Another piece of furniture I have is this Victorian baker’s table. (you can read more about this antique baker’s table here)

HometoCottage.com drawer to baker's table

Its drawers are very simply made with just a dado edge on the drawer front, and nails holding the drawer sides to the front.

Now, back to the breakfront secretary…

Another telltale sign that it’s not too old of a piece are the screws holding the hardware are Phillip-head screws.

Phillips-head screws were invented in the 1930’s, so this piece was made after that.

HometoCottage.com phillips head screws

However, remember how I said to consider as much as you can…

It is possible on some pieces the hardware &/or screws were replaced…

(although on our secretary it’s clear it was the original hardware for the secretary)

But take for instance this piece…

HometoCottage.com carpenter trick repair done

a primitive cupboard in which I had to fix the door that kept falling off. (You can read about that old carpenter’s trick I performed here) but when I made the repair, I couldn’t find an old screw that fit right, all I had on hand was this Phillips-head screw… it works great, but it’s not matching to the very old primitive cupboard.

One last clue I had in determining the age is I asked about it from the people I bought it from.

Even though the story people tell you about a piece isn’t always accurate, things get confused sometimes, it still will give you a clue of what to look for in your detective work.

I’ve purchased many things at garage and tag sales. When I’m checking out, I always ask what they know about the piece. Sometimes they might not know much, but even a little clue can direct you where to start looking and see if the puzzle pieces fit.

In the case with this breakfront secretary, it was a client’s piece in their house I renovated for them. At the time, I told them how lovely the piece was and gave it a spot of prominence in their design. Fast forward several years, and as they were making the difficult task of moving into assisted living, they needed to get rid of this piece and remembered how much I appreciated it, so they actually contacted me to see if I was interested in it.

Of course I was, and thrilled with how well it fit into our living room spot in our new 100 year old house.

HometoCottage.com vintage breakfront secretary with bubble glass 1

The gentleman who originally purchased it, told me that he bought it around 1950, when he was a college student, living at home.

Since he lived with his mother, but needed a spot for his books and a study spot, he bought this beautiful piece to have in his mother’s house, for his study area. Once he was married and living on his own, the piece eventually came with him.

My applied methods in identifying furniture age to this piece completely confirmed his story.

I’m super happy with this piece of furniture, and how it looks in the living room entry area. And even though it isn’t a genuine ‘antique’ I’m totally fine with that. It’s just good to know…

Hope this lesson in identifying furniture age helps you both with your pieces you have already, and as you’re out and about looking for more treasures!

Did you know I now offer e-decorating? I can help you with your decorating needs via email, without having to step foot in your home. If you’re interested in more information, visit my e-decorating site: Frame and Frills. I’d love to help you with your project!

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Thanks so much for stopping by! Please feel free to follow and share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook, Pinterest, Flipboard, Bloglovin, YouTube and now Instagram!  I appreciate you reading along.

This post is linked up at the following other sites: Skip to My Lou, Between Naps on the Porch, Coastal Charm, The Scoop, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Home Stories A to Z, A Stroll Thru Life, Tip Junkie, Cozy Little House, Savvy Southern Style, A Pocketful of Posies, DIY Dreamer, DIY by Design, From my Front Porch to Yours, Posed Perfection, The Charm of Home, Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body, Too Much Time on my Hands, French Country Cottage, Design, Dining and Diapers, Simply Sweet Home, The Girl Creative, Chic on a Shoestring, DIY Showoff, I Should be Mopping the Floor

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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I’m Liz, the author, and I’m so glad you’re here!

My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!
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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I'm Liz, the author, and I'm so glad you're here! My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!


Disclosure Policy: According to FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that some of the content of this blog may be a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

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Sharing is great! Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest and Flipboard and Houzz and YouTube the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by. But please remember that all photos, images, text and content are owned by SimpleDecoratingTips.com. So anything you share, please be sure it always links back to my original post it came from. Please do not remove watermarks, crop or edit anything without written permission from me first.

Disclosure Policy: According to the FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials and shopping links. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

Disclosure Policy According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. My truthful opinion will be what I state, no matter if I'm getting paid or not. Accuracy and truth are the priority for me on this blog's information, no matter if it's about a product or anything else. Not every product or service or store etc. may be mentioned in each and every post as an affiliate. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post.

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