Circa 1860 Mahogany Cylinder Top Secretary - Artisans of the Valley Restoration

Very niece piece of furniture and great restoration work!

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

Eric, this is a beautiful piece of furniture. I love seeing older pieces, such as this, being given a new lease on life.

Nice job. As a suggestion, if you get the chance, when you post another restored piece I think it would make a dramatic contrast to post a “before” picture as well. This will allow the extent of your efforts to be fully appreciated when viewing the finished piece.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Couldn’t put that in just any house. Beutiful piece and a great job on the resto.

-- Scott, South Carolina

I don’t understand; why is this not an antique? Because it wasn’t hand made?

Great piece. I’d like to have seen a full size before picture also.

-- Father of two sons. Both Eagle Scouts.

That’s nice work. I love a good resurrection!

-- Paul, Texas

Eric, can you give us an indication of the time required for this restoration, and what the approximate cost was to the customer? How would that compare to building a similar secretary from scratch?

interesting

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Eric, great job, beautiful piece!!!!!!!

-- Gary, Little River,SC I've Learned that the Lord didn't do it all in one day and neither can I

Greetings,

In the world of furniture antiques are circa 1840 and earlier – hand made … anything that is machine made is not technically considered an antique but is “collectible” ... Real antiques are getting fewer and farther between and the expense ratio to pick them up put them out of reach of the average person. Not that there aren’t plenty just existing as private heirlooms.

Collectibles are refinished and fully restored – no value to an original lacquer finish – the only value comes from an original shellac or in some cases varnishes on antiques. Also lacquer sucks in general it covers up and hides most of the beauty of the wood especially when aged and cracking. A hand rubbed shellac/tung oil finish will bring out the natural beauty and most often make these pieces come up with an outstanding appearance – far better than even when new.

A piece like this has a wide range – anywhere from say $3,500 – $8,000 in value depending on who made it, how old, and who’s fighting over it at an auction, condition, etc. This is in restored or good/excellent condition. When they are falling apart they are generally not worth more than $500-$2,000.00

Full restoration on average should take about 10 hours, with expenses it’ll cost around $1,500 to rebuild and refinish. A lot of the process is waiting for glue to dry, waiting for finish to dry, etc.

For us to build one of these from scratch – depending on options figure $12,500 range …

I don’t have any full pictures of this one before restoration … just the ones broken down and in various pieces. It kinda fell apart as we took it out of the customers car so …

A little more info: http://www.artisansofthevalley.com/docs/the_philosophy_of_restoration.pdf

Thanks for the feedback!

-- Eric M. Saperstein, Master Craftsman www.artisansofthevalley.com

Thanks, Eric, that’s very interesting info. According to my detailed calculations, if you did that restoration in 10 hours you’re about 47x the woodworker than I am :-)

You’ve gotta figure a huge amount of the time is waiting – knock it apart – clean it up will take you a couple hours. Glue each segment you spend half hour and hour gluing up a portion … then waiting then doing the next.

Each coat of finish say takes 15-30 minutes or so to apply then it just sits … rubbing between, etc.

If there happens to be a lot of veneer repair things may take longer – it’s hard to really gauge we don’t punch in and out and we work on many things at once. I may knock about a few pieces and then go down the line in one morning and glue up 15 drawers. Then move to another step, etc.

For this whole thing to be profitable at a descent rate – you have to learn to move quick and handle the tricks. Also figure we outsource the stripping so someone in the expense factors spent an hour stripping it that should come into play.

Pickup / delivery is separate charges if applicable don’t forget that!

-- Eric M. Saperstein, Master Craftsman www.artisansofthevalley.com

Out standing job. love it when I see someones else restoration work. I just filled my shop with a Victrola to be refinished. Its had about 90 years of hard wear, (kids & dogs, maybe a few cats thrown in) and a set of chairs(6) that was stored in a hot attic for who knows how long. Every joint is loose. At least no repairs on these other than the seat broads.

-- Richard http://www.PictureTrail.com/gallery/view?username=thewizz

Eric A great looking restoration. Antique or not, it’s a beautiful piece of furniture.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Eric, so if you are saying to be considered antique it has to be over 150 years and not machine made does that mean that there will not be any antiques except in museums 100 years from now?

In my opinion – anything mass produced today will never become an antique – it’s junk and simply won’t last long enough to become one. There is tons of it and it’s just not worth it’s weight. PERHAPS some of the things from Kittenger and the likes …

The only real antique furniture of the future will be those produced by individual artists and high end shops – if it has a signature it has future worth. Thus we sign every piece and deem it an heirloom – if I built it – it’s going to outlast me by far. We tell clients to deem it out in their wills …

If you buy a table in a store – take it home – it’s worth less. If you buy a table from us and take it home it’s worth more as it is a one-of-a-kind that the next person doesn’t have to wait six months to get. Our name is growing – as the name gets out farther the value potential goes up.

As for 150 years old – yeah basically … the “new” antique is really a collectible. Golden Oak as an example – popular, generally well made, looks nice – restores beautifully … but it is still mass produced machine made furniture.

The less of something there is and the better the quality the higher the value. Hand made knife or gun, instruments, etc …

Think about art by the pound – I have a black and white landscape painting in my living room I paid like $50 for. It’s unsigned, paint by number manufactured there are probably 1000 just like it with subtle differences as it was hand painted. The fact is – it is JUST as good as some I have seen for thousands of dollars. Since I just wanted to fill a spot on the wall and i liked it … I bought it. It at best is worth the same $50 it was probably less … there is no name, no story, no history.

The story behind the artist builds the value – the story even behind a small company builds a value.

As for antiques in museums – those with a story or a history will find their way to museums as the baby boomers retire and eventually pass on. The value will be such that only the elite will maintain them in homes. Think about it – if your “X” relative left the average person an estate with a $50,000 – $100,000 piece of furniture that could send your kid to college debt free would you put it in your living room or sell the sucker and educate the next generation?

It’s a matter of supply – demand, and ability to maintain and perspective to net worth. Things that you can’t even afford to insure you shouldn’t keep!

-- Eric M. Saperstein, Master Craftsman www.artisansofthevalley.com

Eric, I had to come back for another look at this piece. And thanks for the info as well. I would not have known the difference between an antique and a collectible but you explained it pretty well.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.