Over use and abuse wont add value.
Overuse and Abuse Won’t Add Value
What exactly is patina?
Patina is one of those words that gets thrown around in the antiques trade, sometimes correctly and sometimes rather generously. Put simply, patina is the surface that develops naturally on an object through age, use and exposure to the elements.
On furniture, it might be the softening and darkening of the wood, the little variations in colour and the evidence of years of hands opening drawers, polishing surfaces and simply living with the piece. On bronze, copper and brass, it can be the mellow colouring and oxidation that develops over decades or centuries. On silver, it may be the darker tone that appears in the recesses.
And that is the important word: naturally. Patina is not dirt. It is not damage. And it certainly isn't something that should automatically be scrubbed away because something looks a little too old.
Don't confuse age with neglect
There is, of course, a difference between patina and simply being filthy. An antique that has accumulated years of grease, grime and cigarette smoke doesn't necessarily have a wonderful patina. Sometimes it just needs a good clean.
The trick is knowing where to stop. Clean an antique too aggressively and you can remove exactly the thing that makes it desirable in the first place. A beautifully mellow Georgian table that has been polished within an inch of its life can end up looking rather more like a newly made reproduction than a piece that has survived for 200 years.
And then there is over-restoration
We see the same problem with restoration. A little sympathetic restoration can be perfectly sensible. Things break. Veneer lifts. Handles disappear. Finishes deteriorate.
But restoration should normally be about preserving an antique, not disguising its history. Replace too much, strip too heavily, French polish everything until it shines like a new piano, and you may have removed much of the character along with the damage.
An antique is not supposed to look as though it left the factory yesterday.
The worst offence — manufacturing age
Then we get to the really dangerous territory: deliberately making something look old.
There are plenty of ways of doing it. Distressing surfaces, artificially darkening timber, knocking corners, adding marks and scratches and generally trying to manufacture the appearance of years of use.
But genuine age is rather difficult to fake convincingly. Real wear tends to happen in places where people actually touch and use things. Drawers wear differently from table tops. Handles wear differently from legs. The surface changes gradually over time.
Artificial ageing often looks exactly what it is — artificial.
Less is often more
One of the great attractions of antiques is that they have lived a life before they reached us. The little marks, variations and changes in colour are part of that story.
So before reaching for the wire wool, sandpaper or tin of dark furniture polish, ask yourself a simple question:
Am I improving this antique, or am I removing its history?
Because overuse and abuse won't add value. Quite often, they'll do precisely the opposite.
At Top Banana, we would always rather see an honest antique with its original character than something that has been attacked in the name of making it look better.
Age cannot be put back once you've polished it away.
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