About 18th Century Furniture

Video Transcript

"So, you're interested in furniture from the eighteenth century, my name is Blake Kennedy and I'm at Patty and Friends Antique Mall in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Furniture from the eighteenth century, whether it's American or European, being your choice is pretty hard to find. You've got to make sure you know what you're looking for. You want to take a look at the piece of furniture and first you'll open the drawer and find out if it's been hand cut dove tailed, or machine made. That's your first indication whether it's you know, made from a factory or handmade. Most of the furniture from the eighteen hundreds is going to be handmade, one of a kind pieces. There aren't many of them out there, and a lot of them right here in Florida, it's getting hard to find them here in Florida. You go up into the Philadelphia area, the New York area and you'll find a lot more of it being made up there cause that's where furniture was being made in the eighteenth century. If you're looking for the European furniture from the eighteenth century, a little bit easier to find because they have quite a bit of it, it's not like considered that old over there. A lot of it was shipped over here to America to for people to buy, but what's popular right now is the American made furniture from the eighteenth century. You've got to make sure also being from the eighteenth century it's very old so you want to make sure there's not any pieces that have been modified or changed up because somethings been beaten up, and you know what they call a marriage, some pieces are being put together. So, you know, get with somebody that really knows their eighteenth century furniture before you buy it. You know, have them look at all aspects of it, the way it's been made, the way it's put together, the nails they used, the type of wood, open up the drawer and make sure the liners all match up through every single drawer. It's o.k, if it's different woods on it because again, they're not making this out of a factory, they're finding their woods and what they have, so it's o.k. if it's different woods, you just want to make sure it's consistent throughout. You also want to make sure you look at the poles on the locks and open up the drawers and find out if the poles have the original screws in it. All of that's a good indication if they all match up that it is from the eighteenth century. It's a lot of fun having a nice old piece of furniture. And, good luck looking for that piece of furniture from the eighteen hundreds. My name is Blake Kennedy."