I found this cute little table on the curb... and thought with a little bit of this and a lot of that- it could be awesome!
It's a five piece dining table (4 Chairs and a table with leaf)
when I was starting on the chairs.. I saw the tag-
Howell Division of Burd, Inc. dating 1923, 1926, 1929 (on the material tag)
Am I going to ruin the value (if any?)
Sorry about the picture- I was trying to figure out what color I wanted the chairs... but you get the idea...
Let me get this straight
You scrounged a dining table and four chairs from somebody else's trash pile.
You are now concerned that you are going to negatively effect the value of the set by reupholstering the cushions.
You paid nothing. So, you are worried that the value of the set will be what, -100 dollars?
Is it just me or is this the wackiest question in a long time?
i have to agree with my ...
i have to agree with my friend Riki.
I would not worry about ruining the value.
No matter how dumb someone is putting old furniture in the trash, they always have some idea what it is worth.
I love to read about people who find stuff on the curb
and think they have found a Eames prototype that escaped MOMA, but it rarely happens, if you can clean some old piece of junk chair up from the dumpster and put new covers on it, I hardly see how you could ruin the value, in my expert opinion that is what you should do. who wants old trash in their home.
Thanks for your thoughts..
as I am rehabbing a house- I come across many "Why?!?'s"- I am not so much concerned with monetary "value"- but more about it's integrity. I felt bad for painting it's top- I guess- It deserves better. Could it be that old? I had no idea that they even made such pieces until looking into it further- now I feel like I am defacing a piece of art/history. Not that it would be any different with any other furniture- but I just had no idea- I am humbled.
Your
sensitivity to intrinsic (as opposed to monetary) value is commendable. I don't fault you at all for trying to do the right thing for these pieces -- even if I myself would have given them away at the first opportunity. After all, you like them (apparently) and are concerned that perhaps others who might own them later would regret having them disfigured by the wrong upholstery or other changes.
I don't see how anyone could fail to respect that.
"Collectable" is not always synonymous with "monetary value," is the lesson of this episode -- or could be, anyway. Thanks for showing us. (I am surprised, as you are, by those early dates, by the way. The plating seems in very fine shape -- almost as if they hadn't been in use all that time ?)
.
A PBS show is based on folks finding things in the trash.
'If it wasn't painted or modified it would be worth...'
Isn't that how dealers stay in business? They have the knowledge to
find what some think of as trash and get it in the hands of the
correct buyer.
With the internet at hand, the original poster is doing just that. Searching
and asking questions. But without the experience and knowledge.
Perfectly normal to be curious?
Looks expensive to restore and probably worthless junk.
Could just as easily be Aunt Doris's prized dining set that no one liked and
ended up in a college dorm.
My aluminum group desk chair was being tossed because of a stain.
No one wanted it. Most at work think it is ugly and uncomfortable.
I initially thought it was a well made repro because of the under structure.
Because of a recent post and finding a tag, (a 90's fabric tag like clothing)
it is nice to know it is licensed. Still has that ugly stain...
Ya never know.
People put treasure to the curb all the time.
Just ask Liza Minnelli, whose batty fourth husband decided to haul the lot of her 1970's Halston custom-designed furniture down to the sidewalk one day, in a fit of decorating pique. By the time she realized he'd done it... pfft!... it had all been garbage-picked.
(Possession is 9/10ths of the law... no, I WON'T be giving it back.)
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