February 2026
5 details that separate an antique from a reproduction
What we look at first: the back, the joinery, the tool marks.
The back of a piece often says more than its front. Irregular boards, saw marks, natural oxidation of the wood: all clues that are hard to imitate.
Joinery is a second marker. Hand-cut dovetails, pegged mortises, slight asymmetries: handwork always leaves a trace.
Then come the logical wear of contact areas, the colour inside the drawers and the consistency of the hardware with the stated period.