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When You Purchase An Antique Oak Chair, Make Sure It Is Not A Reproduction

My husband and I were new to antiquing. We were looking for a fun way to spend some time together on the weekends. We had moved to North Carolina within the last year and I had noticed a lot of terrific antique shops about an hour from where we lived. Shopping for antique sounded like fun and we needed to furnish some rooms in our new home.

Knowing nothing about antiques meant we had a lot to learn... That being said, the first piece we bought was a beautiful antique oak chair. I was in love with the rich detail the chair offered and the wonderful rich wood color. We brought our new/old chair home and found the perfect spot where we could display it.

After a few weeks I noticed that the chair had some slight damage and I decided to have it fixed. When I brought it to a restorer I was surprised and disappointed to learn that my antique-oak-chair is a reproduction antique chair. I explained that we bought it from an antique dealer but the restorer showed me how he knew the chair was a reproduction simply

based on the stamp of the manufacturer.

Disappointment was written all over my face for sure. I felt as if I had been taken advantage of because we did not have a good working knowledge of antiques and the sales person must have known. The restorer asked me what I paid for the chair and he told me that I payed way too much for this reproduced antique-oak-chair.

When I got home I called my husband and told him what I had learned. We decided to go back to the shop where we got the chair to get a refund. The owner of the shop informed us that they sell reproductions as well as originals and that he was not aware that we did not know that our antique-oak-chair was a reproduction.

When I mentioned that the restorer said that we had paid too much, he told us that he did not agree and that the chair was well made and sold for a good value. All I know is that the next piece we buy we are going to do a lot more research and know exactly what it is that we are getting and what we are paying for. I am shopping for antique chairs!

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