Do you own some old furniture or artwork you have inherited from your grandparents? If you do, it is time to find out which items can actually make you rich and which ones are worthy only a ride to the disposal site with a garbage truck.

To ensure your old stuff is actually what would make any Melbourne antique collectioner go crazy, there are few things that you can do. Melbourne antique experts are always able to tell if a chair or a piece of artwork is priceless or just a wooden piece meant for its purpose only. If you allow an expert to check the worth of your antique, you will either become a millionaire or a heart-broken owner. Some valuable items end up in dumpsters and disposal sites, because people are not interested in finding their real worth. But you are on the right way to find out how to check the worth of your antiques.

Your Old Chair: A Valuable Antique Or Not?

To check if your chair is what every Melbourne antique collectioner would like to have in their collection, just run your fingers underneath the chair. If you feel very shape edges or corners, the chair has probably been manufactured recently and is not antique. Look for any sort of important signs from a particular era.

However, when it comes to chairs, most are unsigned and difficult to identify. For example, the famous American Chippendale chairs have a specific form and in order to check if they are worthy, you need to know them well. If you look at the back of this chair, you will notice it looks exactly like two birds looking at each other in profile. Also, their beak shape tells where they have been made. The value of Chippendale chairs ranges from $15,000 to over $45,000 per piece. The same applies for all chairs that can be found in Melbourne antique stores.

The same rule applies to artwork. Most pieces have a signature from their author, but you cannot judge an artwork based solely on this because the signature could be forged. The most important step in inspecting your artwork is to turn it over and check out its back. Many people look for signs on the front of the canvas, but there can be more clues in the back. The structure and colour of the canvas can tell you what year was the piece painted. Paintings from the 18th century usually feature a dark brown colour and have an open weave. On the other hand, 19th century paintings are brighter and have very close knit woven canvas. The newer pieces of artwork are very bright and white.