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Antique and mid century furniture, provenance can be a very important factor in determining the value of a piece. Loosely, “provenance” means “where a piece came from”. With antiques, this usually means that a direct line has been preserved from the point of manufacture. I.e., a dresser that was made in 1880 and purchased by someone’s great-grandmother when she got married, then passed on down through the generations. In cases like this, “word of mouth” provenance often has to suffice, because it’s quite rare for original documents that prove where the piece came from to survive. In the context of mid century furniture, provenance usually refers to the designer and possibly the manufacturer of the piece. In more specialized cases, it can also refer to a special commission that a designer may have done – i.e. “This sofa was designed by Billy Haines for Jack Warner, and was purchased directly from his estate”. When a seller of mid century furniture makes a claim that a piece was designed by a certain high cache designer, it’s good to have some information under your belt so you can ask the right questions to determine whether or not the dealer really knows what they are talking about. Is the piece labeled (with the manufacturer’s mark)? Is it signed (by the designer)? If not, are there other examples currently for sale, or that have sold in the past, that ARE marked with the designer’s/maker’s signature? If not, is it consistent enough with the style and quality of other pieces by this designer that it makes sense to make the attribution?

Often times, when a dealer is not sure of the design provenance of a piece, he will say “In the Style Of so-and-so” or “In the Manner of so-and-so”. Basically, what this means is that the dealer would like to think that the piece in question was designed by a certain designer, but he has no real proof, and doesn’t feel comfortable fully attributing the piece. This can go both ways – I’ve run across quite a few “attributions” over the years that turned out to actually be the work of the designer that the seller thought the piece was “in the style of”. Of course, it’s much more common to see a seller’s attribution of a piece and think “you’ve got to be kidding”! While many dealers are extremely honest and forthright about their attributions, there are definitely some who try to pull the wool over their customers’ eyes and mis-attribute their pieces. Often times this is due more to ignorance on the part of the dealer than anything nefarious, but all the same, as a serious buyer of vintage furniture, you need to stay one step ahead of the dealers and really know what you’re looking at.

There are many ways to familiarlize yourself with the work of different “big name” furniture designers. Obviously, the internet is an amazing resource for finding information about designers. Websites like www.1stdibs.com and www.bondandbowery.com, which feature the inventory of many different high end, high quality dealers, are a great place to start. 1stdibs in particular allows you to browse the website by designer – and of course you can always enter the designer’s name in as a search term. eBay is also a fabulous educational too, if you know how to use it (which could be the topic of another whole series of articles)! If you find that you are drawn to the work of a particular designer, and decide that you want to start a collection of their pieces (or even just one or two), it would greatly behoove you to pay a visit to some shops that have verifiable examples of the designer’s work. While looking at examples online is certainly better than nothing, and a great way to get started on your search, there’s really no substitute for seeing the pieces in person. The more “face time” you are able to get with the pieces you’re searching for, the more likely you are to recognize examples of the designer’s work when you come across them when you’re out shopping.

Having some knowledge of provenance can turn what one person might see as a “cute 1950s iron framed lounge chair” into a “Rare Wrought Iron Lounge Chair by Paul Laszlo for Pacific Iron” (for instance), and has the potential to change the value of a piece from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, or even more!

Work From Home Ideas
Work From Home Ideas
Work From Home Ideas