The Value of Fine Antique Furniture in America

Imagine me driving through a beautiful wrought iron gate in Montecito. I enter a grand house filled with fine antique furniture, loved for 40 years. Get ready, I think, because my client will become upset when we talk market value.

The value of fine antique furniture in America fell 30 percent in the last 10 years. I saw it fall faster in Santa Barbara. Other objects I appraise have NOT fallen this hard. For example, fine art rose in value about 10 percent in the last 10 years. Fine wines are huge, as well as vintage automobiles. You can sell silver for precious metal value. But furniture is DOWN.

Especially the following eras of furniture:

• Victorian era furniture dropped 75 percent in the past 20 years.
• English Brown furniture from the 18th century, essentially Georgian era furniture, dropped 30 percent in the last 10 years.
• Most astoundingly, old French furniture, once the hallmark of the very well off, fell by half since 2009.

What’s the problem? Does an opportunity exist in this down market?

“Heavy” and “brown” is not today’s prevailing aesthetic because houses, apartments, and rooms are smaller. Think of the top end cities in the US and how much space COSTS. People with taste want designer “light” and “minimalist.” People buy things today with an eye to an investment, and no young family I know of wants to inherit a loss leader.

When I started in the biz 30 years ago many people seemed excited to own a piece made before electric lighting. Now folks need multipurpose furniture, not pieces that dictate their OWN use, such as a sideboard or a huge dining table or a massive roll top desk.

Now for the silver lining

Old furniture pieces, like old homes, are built rather well and eco-friendly. That old piece long ago “outgassed” all toxins, opposed to ready-made mass manufactured pressboard stuff. Old pieces also tell stories. And right now, they’re cheaper than ever before in the past 30 years.

Since antique furniture reached an all-time low, consider it a great time to buy, or find a few pieces at a resale shop or thrift store. You just wait, the OLD WORLD might come back into fashion.