What Do The Numbers Mean On Antique Furniture

Examine your furniture for markings or labels that identify the manufacturer or a lot or patent number.

Examine these parts carefully. I have an end table with 1863 stamped in white under the shelf and a three drawer dressed stamped with 1700 in black on the back. Use a chart such as biddington s to look up the number you find to see if it corresponds with a year. Slight differences in size or shape are not always easy to spot.

Finding a label on a piece of furniture now means that the collector has to know what kind of label it is to decipher its meaning. We buy what we like. Primarily because so many of us naturally do what s most important when collecting antique furniture. Most makers of the early period either scrawled their name or mark under a drawer somewhere or didn t bother to mark their products at all.

Below is a list of terminology very often used in antique furniture in alphabetical order. Starting in the nineteenth century ranges of numbers were assigned to each year s new patents. Exact symmetry is another sign that the piece was machine made. Thanks to anyone that has information about this.

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Look at the hardware used in the furniture. This metal emblem was used by members of the grand rapids furniture makers guild beginning in 1931 to certify each individual piece of furniture by number as having been made by a guild member. Some manufacturers used less expensive wood on the back of a bureau and they placed the label there where it wouldn t damage the finish. This will be very helpful if you are interested in antiques and want to learn and understand the styles and construction.

Antique furniture is one of the most fascinating sections of antique collecting. What do stamped numbers mean on antique furniture. The lower edges of furniture especially on the side or back edges where a metal tag might be attached. Such a marking or label may have been placed inside a drawer on an old dresser on.

Most antique furniture tends to be purchased by ordinary everyday people rather than dedicated antique furniture collectors. On handmade furniture rungs slats spindles rockers and other small diameter components are not uniform.