"Brown" furniture

[Tonnerre]

I'm clearing out the flat of a relative who has gone into a care home. He has some "naice" furniture that may or may not be antique - things like hall tables that looks as if they are mahogany, and a desk with an inlaid wood lid, etc. I don't feel that we can give these to a charity shop and would like to get the best value we can for him, but I've heard somewhere that "brown" furniture isn't that popular these days.

Can I pick people's brains about the best way to deal with this? Should I get someone like a local antique shop to value and maybe buy the stuff, can I send photos to anyone to get a valuation, or is something like Ebay my best bet?

Do you have a local auction house? If so, sending them some pics of the furniture might give you a clue. I'm afraid that brown furniture isn't that fashionable anymore but at least with auctions, the market decides the value and if there are several items, they can go to the auction house in one load.

Did you post about this recently? I'm sure I've read the exact same thread

It depends on what the furniture is. If it’s mid century like G plan, Jentique, Ercol, Nathan etc then there is a market although don’t expect mega bucks. Buyers frequently sand down and oil “brown” furniture to get a lighter finish. There are mid century furniture groups on FB who could identify it although they will not give valuations, check eBay for that. It sounds though that this furniture may be older and I’m not sure what that market would be so as previously said ask your local auctioneers.

I go to furniture auctions and there are set after set of dining tables and chairs that don’t get a single bid. People don’t have dining rooms or hallways with a special piece of furniture for their telephone.

If you look at the Frenchic fan forum on Facebook you can see everyone snapping up old ‘brown’ furniture so they can upcycle it by painting it with Frenchic paint.

The transformations are fab.

Examples here -

I much prefer the brown furniture to the upcycled versions!

Some mid-century furniture goes for loads at our local auction house. Heavy Victorian and Edwardian pieces don’t fetch much.

The transformations are fab.

or vandalism depending on your view point