I am currently working with a client who is in her early 60s and downsizing from a large Rosedale home. She and her husband, like many people collecting and furnishing their homes in the early 1970s, really liked Canadian antique pine furniture or Canadiana.
I'm afraid that today, this area is another casualty of the waning desire for antiques by the new buyers that are coming into the market. Young people and the current market don't really favour that primitive rustic look, and with the number of baby boomers that did favour it and are now trying to downsize, it's a really lop sided supply and demand issue.
My first question is always 'Do you have any painted pieces?', which is partly because I love early painted furniture and because it is so rare, as many were stripped down to suit the majority of consumer's tastes. And what's interesting is that stripped pieces are still most saleable, but probably not worth as much as their counterparts still bearing some or all of an original finish.
So yes, there is always going to be demand for large cupboards, painted pieces and the really unusual but as for the millions of wash stands, dressers and chairs out there, they better be something really special if you have hopes of realizing anything near what you paid for them - 30+ years ago.
