Community Chat

[151949]

I have an antique Stickley buffet in my dining room that was DH's grandmothers. A wedding present in 1905. Now it was assessed at $15,000 by the insurance co. I have the matching washstand but it is in less perfect condition and so was assessed at much less. Apparently it was actually used as a washstand and so it got wet and sustained damage. We refinished it but that lowers the value. Still beautiful though. Enjoy your new piece.

[Drythe]

@riley1

OT -  Are you OK flood wise?

My Dad's place at Little River is raised (thank goodness) but the water is way up.

[Q4u]

At 33" in length it sounds like a Washstand.  It does sound a little on the short side, were the wheels taken off?  Sometimes that makes a difference.

A sideboard or buffet runs roughly around 40" + and will often include a top that will "peg" into the bottom.  The one I own is 42" in length, has a top and was made in England in the teens.  

But I say to use your antique in any way you see fit~!!  And enjoy!  (I love antiques!) 

[wismiss]

Thank you for all your suggestions, information, and pictures.  Beach-Mom, Riley 1, Q4U and Drythe--you were correct.  The pictures Drythe posted look exactly like the piece of furniture I was asking about.  Our doesn't have the arms, though, but the sides are even the same as that one picture.  You would think someone took a picture of my piece as it is an exact match to Drythe's picture.  Thank you so much EVERYONE.  I learned a lot about buffets and sideboards, too, and that may come in handy in the future.

[Q4u]

If your piece looks exactly like Drythe's, it is definitely a wash stand.  

I own one as well and love it.  Many were torn apart and considered "old fashioned". The towel bars were taken off, the back splashes were taken off and in the 70's they especially took off all the wheels!!  My husband and I used to beat the bushes for antiques for years to re-sell and we had acquired at estate sales a lot of the "pieces" and I especially remember  a large bag of old wheels that we would lovingly put back on some of these pieces before we resold them.... and my husband would re-attach back splashes and towel bars.

I love, love, love antiques and my particular love is American and English Primitive.  I don't  know why (I'd probably need a couch session) but I discovered I do not get tired of them.  I love the wood, the nails, the screws, everything about them and slowly collected enough of my favorites to have an old country (eclectic) home....

If  every time you go by one of your special pieces and you stop to admire it for a second and think, "Gad I'm glad I bought that!!"..... then you did the right thing in buying it!   Everything I have like that I feel that moment..... they make me happy to look at them and I hope everyone here has those same moments.

Enjoy~!!   

[riley1]

@Drythe - well for the time being, the rain stopped!!! Yeah - let's hope this is over and done. We are keeping an eye on the river near us which is extremely high and not due to crest until Wednesday. The ponds around are chock full and roads are still flooded. Malls and many stores are closed as well as the Post Office. We are thankful, my heart goes out to so many others where it is much worse.

[wismiss]

Q4U:  I am so happy that you and your husband have scoured the sales for antiques to save.  This washstand was also found in pieces and had been painted that green that was popular so many years ago.  The person we bought it from stripped it, found pieces that had been left in the top drawer, and refurbished it to what it is at this day.  And, I forgot in my description to say it has wheels.  I'm like you in one sense---I like antiques, and some primitives.  Have you ever been to Door County, WI?  They have an antique store (sorry, can't remember the name) and she goes to Europe occasionally and buys antique furniture and ships it to her store.  Some of it is really old but still in wonderful condition and the hand tooling on it is just exquisite.  

I'd better sign off.  I could go on forever.  I'm so glad there are still a lot of people who treasure and preserve pieces from the past.

[wismiss]

Riley 1, I've not watched the news for a couple of days so have not heard where it is flooding.

However, I hope that the water levels soon go down and people are able to get to safety.  There is no stopping water and is certainly can be very destructive.  

Good luck to all who are experiencing this terrible tragedy.

[Q4u]

Have you ever been to Door County, WI?  They have an antique store (sorry, can't remember the name) and she goes to Europe occasionally and buys antique furniture and ships it to her store.

I've not been to the store you describe, however there was an antique store where we used to live that bought crates of European antiques and had them shipped to her store (where we bought our sideboard!).... and there was an antique store in town here that did the same thing, remarkable pieces from Europe (Spain and Germany) but she unfortunately went out of business last year...  

It's unfortunate that antiques are just not selling right now and there just isn't much to find any more.  Hopefully when the economy gets better antiques will make a come back.....  

[Sister Golden Hair]

I have bought and sold antiques for years and years and the one piece that I sold was an oak washstand with green depression glass handles