Store opens on Thursday, March 12, 2009
Please note that Old England Antiques will reopen on March 12, 2009 @ 10 am.
Please ignore the sign on the entrance door that says that we will reopen on March 11, 2009 @ 1 pm.
Thank you!
What to use as a finish for authentic antique furniture…
…that’s what someone wants to know and I will satisfy the request by answering as follows:
Whether authentic or not, there are many finishes to choose from. However, if you want to maintain and enhance the value of the piece, as an authentic antique piece from England, there’s only one way to go, at least in most cases;
that way is French Polish.
Since the late 1700s when shellac was discovered in India/southeast Asia as a way to finish wood, and even more so in the 1800s, in England they would use only shellac, applied by hand of course, with a rubbing pad.
Quality pieces would be finished in that way.
Lesser quality ones instead kept being oiled or waxed, as French Polishing is labour intensive, requires skill and experience, and natural materials, such as shellac, which is so natural that it’s actually edible, became increasingly expensive.
Synthtic materials on the other hand are cheaper to buy, cheaper and faster to apply, even with spray guns, and look perfect.
However, polyurethane and similar products are appropriate for cheap modern pieces, because it’s a cheap way to finish them and make them look good.
Shellac finished furniture can be easily repaired, and do not require a total redo.
Shellac is also warmer to the eyes, softer to the touch, and totally non toxic, which with kids around is always a major concern.
So in brief, an authentic antique table, particularly if English or anyway of high quality, should be finished by French Polishing.
In that way the pice would look more beautiful, the grain of the wood would relly stand out, and that’s great with quality woods such as antique mahogany, walnut, rosewood, satinwood and a few others. The value of the piece would be enhanced, the look of the piece would be the original one, the easiness of repairs to scratches for instance would be impressive.
Today, Wednesday, March 04, 2009
We are sorry to inform you that we will be closing early, at 2PM, for a delivery.
We’re back to New England from Old England and Europe (Tuscany, Italy)
After a successful trip to Britain and to Italy, we managed to buy a some nice antiques in England, of quality and rare beauty, and to ship a fully packed container of English antique furniture from our antique stores in Italy.
The trip, although very short for so much to do, was hectic but fruitful.
We are now getting ready to receive the very large quantity of English antique furniture pieces anytime in February.
We will then notify our clients and those that signed our guestbook at our antique store in Newton Highlands, Ma.
For the next few weeks, please find our hours of opening below:
Sunday and Monday: closed
Tuesday: by chance or appointment
Wednesday: 10-4
Thursday: 10-4
Friday: 10-4
Saturday: 10-4
We really welcome any visit outside these hours by appointment. In this business it’s hard to know when visitors and clients would like to view our pieces, bring pieces for evaluations and restoration quotes, and so on.
That applies to both actual clients and to prospective ones, so we would be delighted to know when anybody wants to see us and our antiques by appointment. You would be doing us a favour, so don’t be shy and don’t think that we expect you to make any commitment upon a visit by appointment.
Do us a favour, and yourselves, call on 617 9 9 9 0 2 6 9 or 617 8 9 4 0 7 3 1 to arrange an appointment now!
Saturday, November 29th, 2008
Today we are closing at 4 pm.
Sorry for any inconvenience, but you can call @ 6 1 7 8 9 4 0 7 3 1 for help and info.
Thank you.
Chinese “antiques’” invasion, buyer beware!
Yes, it appears so, China is invading the western world, and the antiques’ world is not going to be spared.
Below is a message that we received on our VOIP, Skype.
“Dear ,we supply the antique furniture in china.we are the factory.Nice to meet you .”
The message was obviously unsolicited, what you would call SPAM if it was in an email, and just shows how far into the Western World consumers’ market the Chinese manufacturing industry are willing to go.
I don’t think I have to bring to your attention the fact that these antiques, are obviously repros, of what quality I don’t know, but definitely not antique.
I am sorry I deleted the contact before being able to copy the introduction, which sounded like an ad to their production of antiques, just making it very clear of what you would get.
So, the point is, that not all antique dealers are going to ignore these offers, and many are probably going to take advantage of these first reproductions coming from China and are going to buy them and sell them off as antiques or good quality reproductions, in other words they are going to offer what they are going to sell as good value for money.
And that of course, is not the case.
Remember that mass produced items and reproductions in particular, are never going to have any real value, since it’s the rarity of any item, not only antiques, that is one of the main factors for value.
So, buyer beware!
Back to business, English Antiques, open again!
Hello all!
We are back from our latest buying trips to England, which included a 10 day vacation in Tuscany, Italy.
Apart from the vacation time, which was awesome, it was a very good trip for business too.
Unfortunately for the UK, but good news for the US, the British economy is collapsing and heading towards recession, with the value of the local currency, the British Pound Sterling, not the Euro as many appear to believe, is very low. That’s good news for importing English Antiques.
As many of our clients know after extensive explanations about the way we proceed, it’s not going to affect prices and values more than the industry specific inflation and increasing difficulty in finding interesting pieces in very good shape.
Still, it’s good for Americans that can travel more easily and affordably to the UK and discover the world of English antiques in loco, in the land of origin.
Buying and bringing home pieces is another story, and probably not cost efficient if you consider the amount of time that has to be waisted, even if a shipper takes care. Time is always tight and it’s better spent visiting and learning about England and English history.
And that’s what we do, we bring you those pieces, straight to your home, refinished in a way that even in England, let alone America, it’s so hard and expensive to find a skilfull restorer that can do it.
French Polishing is such an old technique that most have abandoned it in favour of less time consuming and effortless techniques such as waxing, spraying or, amazingly, the simple technique of leaving the pieces as they are, therefore not revealing their innate, although hidden, beauty and leaving them exposed to easy deterioration, without the protection of a professionally hand applied finish. Of course you can keep them in a climate controlled glass cabinet, but I don’t think that it would suit most of you and of your homes.
So here we are, once again, back in Boston, or Newton to be more precise, offering our pieces in stock, plus getting ready for our next shipment, scheduled for the fall, when the weather will not put the antiques stored in a container, in danger of extensive damage to the finish.
We’ll let you know more about the shipment soon!
See you at our store on Route 9 West, Newton Highlands, Massachusetts…
Store hours August-September 2008
We are on a business trip to England and then on vacation to Italy.
Then back to England on our way home to Boston.
So, from Aug 11th through Aug 27th we will be closed.
But from Aug 28th Denise will be available by luck or, better, by appointment;
contact her on 617 921 3443 or 617 999 0269.
From Sep 3rd a normal schedule will resume.
Further info here soon.
Wellesley Antique Show: restoration at Elm Bank
If you were at the show, you were able to see the finish that we do, unlike most dealers and restorers nowadays, which is our signature French Polishing. And that definitely makes any piece incredibly attractive, clean, valuable, and that’s why in the late 1700s the English replaced any other type of finish, such as waxing and oiling, with French Polishing, done with shellac only.
And not only you were able to see the finish completed, but also the polishing in progress.
That definitely was what is called a ‘show-stopper’, with many visiting our space to see how such a fine finish is achieved.
We worked on a piece in particular, a rosewood trolley, and demonstrated the smoothing of the surface with steel wool, the polishing with the shellac soaked rubbing pad, and so on.
Many stopped to ask questions, to ask for restoration services, and some came back to see how the work progressed, being surprised by the amount of time needed to achieve the results.
And I can confirm that nobody really knew anybody that could do the same job with the same technique, and basically, anybody that do and can French Polish.
Younger people had very little idea of what shellac is, and many ignore the present uses of it.
We informed everybody, and we revealed all that can be revealed at an antiques’ show, as we prefer the educated client that knows what to look for, so he/she can avoid fakes and non antique pieces, at the same time avoid disappointments and therefore not loose interest in antiques, and hopefully, he/she would be even more interested in our pieces, which are authentic antiques; and that’s while learning more about the correct finish for antiques, how value is affected by a bad finish, what are the benefits of protection of antique pieces of furniture, and so on.
Wellesley Antique Show: visitors at Elm Bank
So the weather could’ve been worse, the attendance was far superior than what expected, at least at our space, with many local residents ignoring our presence and picking up cards and getting information and planning a visit. This was in fact our main objective, so that’s great. As an alternative to advertising, you can’t beat a local show, and we’re in Newton Highlands while the show was in the neighbouring Wellesley.
It was also great to see present clients come to visit and talk about everything, including antiques of course, and with the next container of antiques shipping after the summer, it’s great to find out what our customers, actual and potential, are looking for.
In fact, we are getting ready for 2 buying trips to England, in mid-August and at the beginning of September, and we will also travel to Italy, where our main business is located, and pick the antiques that are going to fill up the container, approx 100 pieces!
The shipment can’t be done during the summer for the risk of damage to the furniture due to the summer heat, which is terrible in a metal container.