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What to do with unpainted vintage furniture


WildCat

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Hello All!  I am an antiques dealer in California who has recently acquired some original stamped Tynietoy furniture pieces that were unpainted/unstained.  These were deadstock left over when the company closed in the early 1950s and kept in storage ever since. I am trying to figure out what to do with them.  I was thinking of getting a local artist to hand paint them in the original styles and colors, and divulge that they were original pieces with modern artist interpretations.  What I am wondering is how "purist" most collectors are?  Is it more important that you like the decoration on a certain piece, and would be happy knowing that the construction is of the highest quality? Or is it more important that it is "all original". Would it be better to sell these as unpainted and let people be creative with them themselves?  See the example of a lowboy below. Thanks so much for your input.

P1270964.JPG

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4 hours ago, WildCat said:

Hello All!  I am an antiques dealer in California who has recently acquired some original stamped Tynietoy furniture pieces that were unpainted/unstained.  These were deadstock left over when the company closed in the early 1950s and kept in storage ever since. I am trying to figure out what to do with them.  I was thinking of getting a local artist to hand paint them in the original styles and colors, and divulge that they were original pieces with modern artist interpretations.  What I am wondering is how "purist" most collectors are?  Is it more important that you like the decoration on a certain piece, and would be happy knowing that the construction is of the highest quality? Or is it more important that it is "all original". Would it be better to sell these as unpainted and let people be creative with them themselves?  See the example of a lowboy below. Thanks so much for your input.

P1270964.JPG

It looks pretty rough, judging from the photo.  Is it all that white color and is it primed?  It looks awfully crude as is;  Googling images of Tynietoy furniture I see that it came both stained and painted and that does appear to be the way it looked before finishing.  I did find an image of that lowboy finished with stain and some decorative paint that helps it look better:

See the source image

I think at least starting out you might offer the pieces to collectors to finish themselves or to have your local artist finish them as they request.

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One of the things I always hear people complain about is the red stain with thick gloss varnish...it ruins otherwise cute pieces, unless you want to go to the trouble of refinishing. I can see the value of these as unfinished pieces for sure. If you list them somewhere (eBay) let us know. I wouldn't expect to get much more than around $5-7 per piece. 

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2 hours ago, WildCat said:

Hi!  Thanks so much for your input.  It is very helpful.  I do have a few listed right now on ebay under my handle oncillakat.  I have some unfinished and some that were already finished when I got them.  

 

1 hour ago, WyckedWood said:

Thanks Katrina, if you have a link to a listing that would be helpful. 

Please post any ebay links in that topic.

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Hi!  Thanks Sable.  Yes, I have specialized in vintage fashion and antique textiles for years, but I like to diversify.  Anything wonderful and unique is sort of my moto.  I also am taking a buying trip to Italy and France with my three year old daughter in April, and now I am inspired to look for some great miniatures to sell too!  I think that although these are unfinished, they are still TynieToys and in mint condition, so I am hoping to get some pretty good prices for them, although we will see what the market holds.  The lowboy just sold for $70 so that is a nice start.  I'm thinking it may be time to re-open my Etsy store so some artist and artsy collectors can get their hands on these little beauties.  I also just listed a few more rare finished items like a wonderful mantel clock and secretary on ebay.

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