When You Purchase an Antique Oak Chair, Make Sure it is Not a Reproduction

My husband and I were new to antiquing. We werebrought it to a furniture restorer I was surprised and
looking for a fun way to spend some time together ondisappointed to learn that my antique-oak-chair is a
the weekends. We had moved to North Carolina withinreproduction antique chair. I explained that we bought it
the last year and I had noticed a lot of terrific antiquefrom an antique dealer but the furniture restorer
shops about an hour from where we lived. Shoppingshowed me how he knew the chair was a
for antique furniture sounded like fun and we neededreproduction simply based on the stamp of the
to furnish some rooms in our new home.manufacturer.
Knowing nothing about antiques meant we had a lot toDisappointment was written all over my face for sure. I
learn... That being said, the first piece we bought was afelt as if I had been taken advantage of because we
beautiful antique oak chair. I was in love with the richdid not have a good working knowledge of antiques
detail the chair offered and the wonderful rich woodand the sales person must have known. The restorer
color. We brought our new/old chair home and foundasked me what I paid for the chair and he told me that
the perfect spot where we could display it.I payed way too much for this reproduced
After a few weeks I noticed that the chair had someantique-oak-chair.
slight damage and I decided to have it fixed. When I