Antique Furniture Market - Heading Up or Down?

Anyone old enough to remember the hey days of the antiques market that peaked at the turn of the 21st Century cannot believe the crazy low prices antique furniture have been selling for over the past decade. We're talking about finely crafted one of a kind pieces of furniture made from old growth woods using the finest hand employed construction and finishing techniques. Pieces that have stood the test of time having survived hundreds of years and will likely continue on their journey for hundreds more years long after we're all gone.

For the past 20 + years the demand has been for the cheaply made mass produced furniture that could satisfy consumers need for instant gratification. A dining table that took over a year to craft 200 years ago can take a matter of one or two weeks today. Do you think that today's dining table is going to last 100 years? 50 years? 10 Years? 5 Years? . . . maybe . . . . 

Even before the impact of trade tariffs, the pendulum had begun to swing back to quality made "Vintage" furniture that could be picked up at a fraction of the cost of the mass produced counterparts. Websites like 1stdibs and Chairish made their names reselling designer furniture as a viable option. Our set of six Dessin Fournir chairs (AF2-168) is a great example of a set of high quality chairs that can be purchased at a fraction of the cost of their newly made counterparts by the same company today: 

So "Vintage" is clearly becoming an acceptable resource for the design community today. Going one step further, "Vintage in the style of antique" is now gaining widespread attention. Names such as Burton Ching, who have always made top quality antique reproductions are highly sought after now in the Vintage realm. This Burton Ching Console Table (AF1-136) has been immensely popular on our website:

So that is where we sit today: Using "Vintage" and "Vintage Antique Reproductions" as accents in today's interiors is a trend you see in just about every design magazine you pick up today. Not having a working crystal ball (mine broke a long time ago) I can't say with complete certainty that the pendulum will continue to swing back to the quality antiques that are still around. But if I were a betting man, I'd wager a big bet on it . . .   You see it happening already - antique dining tablesare gaining in popularity, beds made from antique elements, case pieces like linen presses that offer abundant storage capacity, and even the secretaries and slant front desks (which you couldn't give away a few years back)are all gaining traction.

And what about prices of antique furniture? Again, if I were a betting man I'd definitely bet on the upside. Limited supply (unfortunately, so many great pieces were lost during the last antiques recession), increasing costs of labor and materials, trade tariffs, inflation / dollar devaluation and most importantly - increasing demand - all point to an increase in prices. We will see . . .