TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

1930s Diners Were Right In Style With Art Deco Table And Chairs

ADVERTISEMENT

By JAY MOORE Tribune correspondent

Published: December 22, 2007

Please tell me about my dining set consisting of a table, with leaves that pull out, and four matching chairs. All of the pieces are painted.

P.P.

Chester, Va.

It is American-manufactured, art deco-style furniture made in the early 1930s. The table has a porcelain-over-steel top. The chairs are made of wood solids with plywood backs.

The set may have been painted or veneered.

The term "art deco" is based on the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes. The fair was a showcase of modern design that swept the planet and remained popular through the 1930s.

The dining set would retail for less than $200. The paint is the problem because it obviously is not original.

I would like any information you can give me about a piece that I recently bought at a yard sale.

The seller told me that it is a George III-style mahogany slant-front desk.

A friend says it is an antique Chippendale-style desk.

J.H.

Tampa

It is a new English George III-style bureau (slant-front desk), probably manufactured or imported by Anderson Bradshaw of Midhurst, West Sussex, United Kingdom.

These desks retail for about $850. It has no antique value.

Buyers and collectors should be aware that many English pieces that appear to be antiques are either new or heavily restored antiques with many new parts.

The same advice applies to French and even American furniture.

Have a question about antiques? E-mail a complete description with a clear digital image (.jpg file) to athome@tampatrib.com. Include a name, address and daytime phone number. Regular mail can be sent with clear photographs (plain-paper prints or Polaroid

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT