I have been buying old and antique French furniture for many years now, but like most people I know who do the same I made a string of mistakes before I started to know what to look out for - and what to avoid!  I am writing this as a general guide to help people know what to look out for in the hope that you do not get stung as I did on occasion.

French antique furniture in general

Most of the French antique furniture you see for sale on eBay was made during the French Belle Époque.  This was a time of wealth and decadence in France and explains why so much high quality, beautiful furniture was produced during that time.  The Belle Époque covers the period of the end of the 19th and very early 20th century.  Furniture produced in this period copied styles from many different eras in French history, which is why you see so many different styles described as all being produced during the same period.  Strictly speaking these pieces are actually replicas, copied from earlier periods - original pieces are generally priced beyond the means of most of us!  (Although I do occasionally manage to pick up a few 18th century originals at reasonable prices)  Furniture varies widely in quality, although most of it is very well made and give those of us with more modest incomes the ability to afford beautiful pieces of antique furniture.

A lot of the French antique furniture on eBay is sold 'straight off the ferry' as it were, bought from bric-a-brac stores, most requires restoration and often reconstructive work to get it in working order, or even just looking good.  Be aware that it is easy to make a piece of furniture look good in a small photograph, whereas in reality it may not in very good condition.  I have been surprised at how good a piece has looked in a photograph when I have been selling unrestored pieces.  Conversely, and ironically, it is often hard to get across how good the furniture really is when it is in very good condition.  I've often have clients tell me how surprised they were at how nice the furniture looked in real life, even though I'd put large photographs on the auction.

My advice would be to check with the seller to see if the furniture needs restoration, or more seriously, structural work to get it in usable condition.  Also beware of furniture being described as antique, when it is actually even more modern reproduction from the 1920-1950 period.  That is a bit more difficult to spot, it requires you to have a bit of experience and generally the piece in front of you to be sure.  There is nothing wrong with a more modern copy and although they are generally not up to the quality of earlier peices, they are often fine, but it is just something to be aware of.  I always state in my auctions whether the piece is an antique, or if it a replica from the 20th Century.  There are many different views on defining an "antique"  Some people would say collectable or valuable items from the 1920-30's are antiques, but I take a generally accepted view that items over 100 years old are "antique".

The biggest problem with French furniture is woodworm.  It can vary from a few holes here and there, to complete devastation!  Woodworm seem to particularly enjoy walnut furniture, which is what a lot of furniture was made from in France.  In my experience woodworm tends to prefer the dark, so strikes from the back and bases upwards, so check feet first, then the rear of the furniture.  It is quite easy to tell if the woodworm is active or not.  Just give the piece a good few taps, and if the worm is active a fine dust will start to fall from the holes.  Even if the dust is not present, it doesn't mean that the worm is not sitting dormant in the wood.  Whether I can see any evidence of woodworm or not, all the furniture I sell is routinely treat with a product which kills existing worm and prevents re-infestation for at least 10 years.  Woodworm is not particularly a problem, and most pieces with woodworm are actually structurally sound.  In fact, woodworm can help in identifying the piece as genuine rather than a modern copy! The biggest problem with woodworm is the visual impact of your lovely piece of furniture dotted with holes!  A good seller should describe the extent of the woodworm, whether, and if relevant, how much it defaces the piece.

French beds

Probably the biggest problem with French beds is the mattress size.  A lot of the French beds are between 130cm to 135cm in width.  A UK standard double is 4ft6in, which equates to 137cm.  I have bought my fair share of 130cm beds thinking they were double, only to find that they are not!  I have found somewhere who can make mattresses to size for me.  With a 135cm bed, you can squeeze a 4ft6in mattress into it (providing the seller has measured and reported the size truthfully in the auction!)  I have seen all sorts of French sizes, and it is not unusual for a seller to say that a bed is a 'double' when it actually is not a standard UK double sized bed.

It is very rare to find antique beds over 140cm in width, therefore if a bed is 5ft (150cm) 'king' sized, then chances are that it may well be a 20th Century replica.  That's not to say there are no genuine antique 150cm beds around, as I have come across them myself, but not very often.  I might get a handful a year if I am lucky!  The other thing to check with 150cm beds is the length.  UK 5ft mattresses are 6ft6in long (approx 200cm) whereas many French 150cm beds are 190cm (6ft3in) long, which means a standard UK 5ft king-sized mattress will not fit.

Final thing to check is that the bolts which hold the sides to the ends are present on the bed.  The design of these are such that they are a permanent fixture on the side bars, so do not normally get lost, but if they are, getting replacements is not easy because modern bolts have a different screw thread pattern and do not fit, and even if you can find old replacements, the thread pitch varies so much if it difficult to find a match without replacing the hidden nut in the bed frame.

Armoires

French armoires are similar to UK wardrobes, but with shelves instead of hanging space.  Many of them can be quite easily converted into wardrobes by installing a clothes rail, tho do beware of the depth of the armoire - the rail may need to hang front to back rather than from side to side.

The French armoires are superbly designed, and the vast majority of them go together with just four bolts, and are basically antique flat-pack in their component parts, and consequently fit within most estate cars quite easily.  Ikea could learn a thing or two from these designs!

The problems you can get with these are - the fixing bolts are missing, or are the wrong screw-thread type, too long or too short so you can't actually tighten the sides onto the base & top.  Check when buying that the bolts are all present and screw into the embedded nuts within the base and top.  The other problem is missing hinges.  A lot of the French armoires have loose hinges at the bottom of the doors.  This metal piece has a pin which rests within a hole in the base of the armoire and you slide it into the door when you put the door on.  It is difficult to describe, but because these are loose they often get lost and it can be a pain to fix as you have to custom make the hinge to fit the door and base piece.

---------

Final piece of advice - if in doubt, always ask before bidding!

---------

I hope that helps someone avoid some of the pitfalls I have come across  If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me whether you are buying from me or not I will be happy to help.