I bought this online and paid a pretty penny for it. I was told the brand is Empire, but I can't find any markings on it. It's mahogany wood, the table top swivels, expands, and has a compartment inside. The feet are all on wheels.
Any thoughts on value or if it's even Empire?
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Here is one on eBay that is similar to yours but the top is rounded and the bottom of the table design is not there. Take a look at this table. www.ebay.com/
This site has a lot of Empie tables but none of them are yours. www.1stdibs.com/
I would actually ask a dealer about this table. If the seller is right then you are OK. There are a lot of people who do sell replicas online and claim they are the originals. To be on the safe side have it looked at now. You can always file a complaint and try to get back your money if the sell mislead you in any way.
There was a brand of furniture called Empire Furniture Company out of West Virginia in the early 1900s. They did use mahogany and cherry for their furniture, which it appears your may be (or it could just be a mahogany/cherry stain--hard to tell from photos.
Here is a link to that company's history:
www.herald-dispatch.com/
I found your exact table (maybe even the exact one you purchased) at this site:
They call it 19th century empire STYLE, not BRAND.
American Empire STYLE is furniture that was primarily made in the 1800s by a variety of companies who were intimidating French neoclassical lines. There is a whole wiki on the topic:
en.wikipedia.org/
So what do you have?
It is hard to tell. If the link above is your exact item, I would say you have an unbranded 19th century empire STYLE piece (that is just stunning by the way).
If that is the case (and this company is reputable and accurate in their identification), then it is almost impossible it was made by the Empire Furniture Company (since they did not open until very early in the 20th century).
With old furniture it is often a huge challenge even for the most expert seller to know exactly what is what because things hand made, were manufactured but did not have tags or there were tags (usually metal) that fell off or were removed along the way or burned in branding was sanded or stained over during a repair.
If you feel you were cheated in your purchase or that you got misinformation, I would contact a reputable appraiser in your town and have them examine the piece and determine exactly what you have and the value.
The one that sold on the site I gave was 2,495.00. I was not able to find a comparable sold one on any other site. Similar tables are all over the price in value from 100 to 3000, but with unusual pieces like this, I hesitate to use similar as comparable because some brands and styles have less street value than others, and condition plays a HUGE part in pricing.
Also the most critical thing to remember is furniture values are based on many things with the first being location and second being supply and demand. Something that sells in Pittsburgh for 100 dollars may sell in California for 1000 or more. Something that sells in New York may sell for 500 and 5,000 in Arizona.
High supplies and low demands drive prices down, while low supply and high demand drive them up.
Furniture values are also based heavily on condition and yours appears to be in nice shape. I have seen quite valuable pieces that would otherwise sell for a 1000 go for 100 because it had a terrible stink of cigarette smoke. There are just so many factors to set value to a piece it is NOT cut and dried.
I am not sure if this is the answer you are looking for, but I hope it at least helps get you started in the right direction.
Please post back with updates and if I can, I will try to help. Thanks for sharing!
This was a tremendous help! Thank you so much! Definitely got me looking in the right direction now! If I reach out to an appraiser I will post back and let you know. Thanks again!
Looking forward to learning more about both your pieces!
www.1stdibs.com has this table for $1,800.00 to $2400.00
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