Customer Reviews

Miller's: Georgian to Edwardian Fur: Buyer's Guide (Miller's Antiques Checklist)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am an auctioneer and I use this book often to check on pieces.
This book is a very good visual reference as to the oh-so-different styles and pieces of fine furniture dating from late eighteen to early twenty century (the vast majority of what you'll find out there).
As to the prices, well, it gets dated fairly quick, but alas, they don't publish it every year, though if you are in on the current trends, it gives you a place to start.
The one I have is not all in color, hence only four stars.
PS. Use it in combination with the more comprehensive 'Miller's Antiques' that does appear every year.

As a resource for valuing antiques, and as been touched upon in the other reviews, this books fails monumentally; as with all markets, antique prices are a function of market fundamentals, and as a consequence, prices are constantly in flux.

However, this book is worth its weight in gold as a means of identifying and attributing antique furniture to specific English monarchial reigns. To the best of my knowledge, it is the most comprehensive resource for antique furniture identification that I have ever encountered. Is it a George IV or William IV bookcase? A survey of the hundreds of pictures of English furniture in this book will soon lay your question to rest, and leave you with an encyclopedic knowledge of designs, terms, and names of important cabinetmakers so that you have a good mastery of the discipline.

As always, questions regarding the valuation of antique furniture is best gleaned from your local auction house floor, and not from a book.

I'm not always crazy about these guides, their usefullness is for such a short duration, but I must say that this one is quite well done. It gives you a good idea of what the pieces of this style are going for at the time and what is selling and what is not..again at the time of the auction. The book does a nice job, better than most Millers guides, of giving many examples of different pieces of furniture in each style. The biggest problem with these guides are that they are a bit expensive and obviously go out of date quickly. Once they are more than a few years old they are really not of much use, other than to admire the beautiful furniture in the pictures. Having said that the book is well put together and the pictures are quite nice, though I wish more where in color.