How can I tell if furniture is antique or a reproduction?

Look at the parts no one sees: drawer sides, backs and undersides. Reproductions copy the outside but usually use machine dovetails, plywood or particle board, Phillips screws and even, flat surfaces. A genuine old piece shows tool marks, shrinkage and wear where hands and feet have touched it for decades.

What does a Knapp joint mean?

The Knapp joint, a row of round pegs set into scalloped sockets, was made by a patented machine from the early 1870s to around 1900. A drawer with Knapp joints is almost always from that window.

Does a Phillips screw mean the piece is new?

Phillips screws only came into wide use from the mid-1930s. One or two can simply be repairs, but if every screw is a Phillips and none show older holes, the piece is probably 20th century or later.

Where are furniture makers' marks usually found?

Inside drawers, on the back panel, under the seat or tabletop, and on the inside of doors. Look for paper labels, stencils, burned-in brands, metal tags and pencil or chalk inscriptions.

Is a piece with replaced hardware still antique?

Yes, but it is usually worth less than one with its original handles. Look for extra holes, outlines of older hardware and filled holes on the inside of the drawer front.

How to identify antique furniture: marks, joints and screws

Most antique furniture tells you its age if you know where to look, and it is rarely the front. The drawers, back and underside were made fast and never meant to be seen, which is exactly why they are honest.

Start with the dovetails

Pull out a drawer and look at the corner where the front meets the side.

Hand-cut dovetails have a few wide tails and narrow pins, slightly uneven spacing and often a faint scribe line the maker scratched as a guide. They are typical of pieces made before about 1860.
Machine-cut dovetails are perfectly even, with pins and tails about the same width. They spread from the 1860s onwards and are still used today.
Knapp joints, round pegs in scalloped sockets, were cut by a patented machine from the 1870s to about 1900.
Plain nailed or stapled corners, or a dado joint glued into a groove, often mean a cheaper or newer piece.

Check the screws and nails

Take out a screw from a hinge or a drawer runner if you can do it without damage.

Handmade screws (before about the 1840s) have a blunt tip, uneven threads and a slot that is often off centre.
Machine-made screws with a sharp, pointed tip became standard after the mid-1800s.
Phillips screws arrived in the mid-1930s.

Nails follow the same pattern: hand-forged nails with hammered heads are the oldest, rectangular “cut” nails were common through most of the 1800s, and round wire nails took over around 1890.

Read the saw and plane marks

Look at the back panel and the drawer bottoms. Straight, slightly uneven saw lines suggest a hand saw or an early mill. Curved, regular arcs come from a circular saw, which became common in the second half of the 1800s. A hand plane leaves gentle ripples you can feel with your fingertips. A surface that is perfectly flat and smooth everywhere, inside and out, is usually machine-made and newer.

Look at the wood and how it has moved

Shrinkage: wood shrinks across the grain over a century or more, so an old round tabletop is often slightly oval, and drawer bottoms may have pulled out of their grooves.
Secondary woods: makers used cheaper woods such as pine, poplar or oak for hidden parts. The same fine wood everywhere is unusual on an old piece.
Plywood and particle board in drawers or backs point to the 20th century.
Wear: real wear is uneven. It shows on drawer runners, chair stretchers where feet rested, and around handles. Even “distressing” all over is a sign of a reproduction.

Find the maker’s label

Check inside drawers, under seats and tops, on the back and inside doors. You might find a paper label, a stencil, a burned-in brand, a metal tag or a retailer’s label. Write down every word and number, and photograph it. Labels can be added later, so treat a label as a strong clue, not proof. It should agree with everything above.

Watch for marriages and replacements

A “marriage” is two parts of different pieces joined together, such as a bookcase top on a desk it was not made for. Compare the wood, the colour of the secondary wood, the construction and the backboards of each part. Also look for extra or filled holes behind the handles, which show the hardware has been changed.

Put it together

No single clue dates a piece. A chest with hand-cut dovetails but Phillips screws may simply have had a repair; a chest with machine dovetails, plywood drawer bottoms and a “1780” label is a reproduction. List what you see, and look for the period where all of it fits.

If you would rather have a second opinion straight away, photograph the whole piece, a drawer joint and any label, and Gavel will identify it and tell you what to check next. For anything that looks valuable, a qualified appraiser should see it in person. Our guide to telling whether an antique is valuable covers what makes the price.