The specialist guide to Asian antiques and exotic home decor from the far east.

I get so backed up with blog posts, because there is so many interesting and fascinating things to see and talk about. And being detailed oriented, I really want to spend the time to talk about each item in detail, the history behind it, where it comes from and all the other details that make [...]

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(Click images to enlarge)
 Question:
A reputable local beijing based antique Chinese furniture dealer sold us this nice Chinese table. It cracked a few months after getting it.  He has his own shop to produce furniture as well as sell antiques. I am sending you 3 photos, 1 of each side of the table, and 1 [...]

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We carry two main brands of wax polish for furniture. Both are hard wax polishes.

Golden Rooster is domestic brand which seems to be partnered with Kiwi. While this works fine, there is chemical smell to the wax which I personally find undesirable. It relatively inexpensive.
Harrell’s Traditional Wax Furniture Polish contains beeswax and is a bit [...]

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The antique advertiser.com website has a great page of tips called Antique Alchemy which have been compiled from various reader feedback and other web sources.  Its a great little resource which I though I might reprint for you here. As they mentioned on their page – these tips are all use at your [...]

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I was in the warehouse just a few days ago, looking over a batch of antique door panels which just came in and it really reminded me just how cool some of these pieces are, especially the iron hardware, the various textures, and the overall character and charm of these bits of history.

In the raw [...]

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A while back, ACF’s Roger Schwendeman was featured on CCTV (China Central Television) Channel 4’s program Culture Express. CCTV 4 is broadcast throughout China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and worldwide via satellite.
CCTV’s team accompanied Roger for several days during buying trips of un-restored Chinese antiques, and then onward to oversee the next steps [...]

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Here is some great collection of articles I found on wood finish supply.com’s website about lacquers & wood finishing. Its quite technical and really intended for woodworkers and the like but if thats you, then this is a good resource.
Here is a sample of some of the articals:

The Atanomy of A Wood Finish
These 3 basic [...]

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One of the best things about controlling your own restorations is the ability to decide what the final result will look like. This end result can sometimes be as important as the original because the “customer’s customer” is going to be thinking about where and how the piece will fit into their home. Often a [...]

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If you read my previous post “blurring the line” you know how difficult it is to honestly decide whether or not an item should be considered an “genuine Chinese antique.” Answering this question becomes even more difficult when you consider the awkward journey a piece my take as it travels through the “antique-reproduction” supply chain. [...]

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Determing whats antique and whats reproduction is getting harder and harder. Sometimes this is a deliberate attempt to pass off a reproduction as antique with the idea that customer would be willing to pay more for the antique. But other times, the line between whats antique and whats reproduction is simply just blurry. In the [...]

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Another great youtube find… This one shows a vendor that clearly specializes in screens & panels . Not sure if this was shot during a buying trip or if the person was simply on holiday. Its still quite interesting though…  Based on the surroundings, it looks like it was shot a few years ago as [...]

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CONVERTED
Converted items are both antique & reproduction at the same time. Because of this the materials
and/or construction should possess a very slight degree of wear/tear due to age/use. The main overall
design of a converted piece may remain the same or similr but heavy modifications are made including
structural, finishes etc

KNOWLEDGE: Basic an understanding of periods, regions, [...]

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