How buying antique furniture is good for your wallet and your soul
Some antiques get better the more you knock ’em
around. Dents, dings and daily wear can bring
wooden furniture to life. Antiques expert Ross Millar
explains how buying a heritage table is good for
your wallet and your soul
My first job in the antiques world was with Wellington auctioneers Dunbar Sloanes.
When a wholesaler’s warehouse caught fire, the auction house was asked to sell its
damaged contents and I bought my first antique: a 19th century dining table.
Surface burns and blistering to the varnish on its legs were easy to fix with an
electric sander and a hot air stripper. A coat of polyurethane (something I’d steer
clear of nowadays) and the table was as good as new—or at least good enough for
my flatmates to eat around and spill wine on.
I paid $50 for that table and sold it five years later for $400. Some 30 years on I’d
like to think it’s still in service somewhere. By now it has probably been re-sanded,
re-polished and re-sold. That’s one of the beauties of antique furniture: because of
its real or perceived value it doesn’t get thrown away.
We Kiwis often think that sustainable living is all about insulation and solar
panels. These things are involved, sure, but sustainability is also about what
endures. True sustainability starts when a building or object does its job for 100 years
or more—like my table. Many antique tables are so well made they’re still functioning
several centuries later.
The daily wear and tear, or ‘patina’, speaks of history, stories, families and the
passing of generations. The brilliant thing about an antique table is that the patina
only adds to its value. Contemporary furniture may look durable and easy-care, but
what about when the laminate chips, the glass scratches or the veneer is dinged and
marked? Suddenly our modern table stands faulted, imperfect and a lot less desirable.
In a contemporary home, perhaps surrounded by modern chairs, a simple antique
table makes a style statement. What’s more, an antique dining table says, “Here is
where we sit to eat, drink and be merry. Here’s the heart of our home.”
Ross Millar is a specialist in antiques, collectables and artefacts
Getting
polished
Northland herbalist Rachael Chester
suffers from asthma and psoriasis—
conditions exacerbated by cleaning
products, soaps, polishes and laundry
powders. “Every time I washed my
clothes, I would break out in a rash,” she
says. “Whenever I sprayed my antique
tables with furniture polish, it would set
off my asthma.”
“I did some research into polishes
and discovered that most commercial
sprays are flammable, and contain
amazing amounts of neurotoxins,
petroleum distillates, turps, naptha, dyes,
solvents and more. This is what we are
putting in our homes every day!”
These days Rachael makes all her
own soaps, sprays, washing powders
and balms—and, of course, furniture
polish. Rachael’s Bee Kind range of wax
polishes is made from natural plant oils,
locally sourced essential oils, carnauba
wax, unrefined beeswax and active UHF
manuka honey from Haines Apiaries. It’s
practically a health food, so if your newly
polished table looks good enough to eat
off, there’s nothing to stop you trying!
Bee Kind Finisher’s Formula for Antiques
& Restoration with Added Manuka, Bee Kind
Beeswax Leather Polish & Deep Conditioner
and Bee Kind Beeswax Furniture Polish
& Preserver with Lavender are available
at www.ecochi.co.nz
