As a Personal Property Appraiser I get asked many questions about antiques. In this article I have answered 7 of the most commonly asked questions. These questions come up at almost every appraisal I have done.
 
How old does an item have to be to be an antique?
There is a great debate about how old an item has to be to be considered an antique. The standard is 100 or more years. There are some antique dealers out there that like to say 50 years. This is so they can sell more …

There are many different woods used to make antiques. It can be difficult to tell these woods apart and if the wood has been stained or painted it can be even harder to identify them. Many times lesser value woods will be stained to look like expensive woods. In this article I have provided some information to help you identify the wood used regularly to make antiques.
Here is some basic information about wood:
There are two kinds of wood, soft and hard:

Over the years I have seen many antique insurance claims. A lot of the antique collectors face an antique disaster at some point in their life. These disasters can range from a broken dish to a loss of an entire antique collection. In this article I have gone over some steps on how to document your antiques and collectibles in case you ever need to make an insurance claim. Being prepared is your best defense when it comes to making a claim with an insurance company. Use the following steps …

An easy way to date silver is by its hallmark. A company would change its hallmark every few years during its production timeline. This was for many reasons; Some of the reasons were to keep their marks from being reproduced or to date their product. In this article I have provided some George Jensen marks to help you date your silver items. I have also included some artist marks with the dates they were used.

In this article I have explained a few techniques on how to date and test for authenticity of antiques using a black light. Black lights produce Ultra Violet (UV). Many materials fluoresce under ultraviolet lighting producing colors or light that our eyes can see, and making things that might go undetected visible to us. Some clues to age or telltale signs of repair are not easily visible to the naked eye, but will fluoresce under ultraviolet light (black light).

Have you ever wondered how old your Steinway piano is? An antique is classified as something over 100 years old. You can read more about the differences between antique and collectibles in the article differences between antiques, collectibles, and vintage item. Steinway has been in business for around 150 years making only 50 years worth of pianos antiques. To find the age of your Steinway piano please see the Steinway chart below.