Expert: Eileen Cronk - 7/19/2006

Question
hello Eileen and thanks for offering to answer my question.
My cousin and myself have accumulated several pieces of furniture over the past 6 months or so, along with other items 'of age'. Amongst these are two matching dining chairs which were covered in gloss paint . We stripped them back to reveal beautiful wood of a reddish colour and then stored them as we hadn't a clue what to do next. Last weekend I went to my local B&Q store and bought  some antique oil, applied it with a cloth and the wood darkened and looks like mahogany. The chairs are of no use to us unfortunately and I would like to sell them - have I done the right thing by applying the antique oil or are they now worthless? I saw a set of four similar on ebay which were advertised as Edwardian. They have bowed front legs and straight back legs with tall elegant shaped backs and padded seats which fit into the frame covered in gold velvet.
I would appreciate any information you could give me as I really haven't a clue what to do with them - should I approach a local antiques dealer for a valuation or would he say I have ruined them?
thank you so much
Linda

Answer
Hi Linda
Nice to hear from you.
If the chairs had gloss paint on them they would be pretty hard to sell.
So you certainly did nothing wrong removing the paint.
Black paint is the worst color to strip in my opinion and I would not have touched them with a ten foot pole before stripping.
The mistake was made with the oil.
You should have applied a stain prior to oiling. Even a clear stain if you did not want to add any color, but this type of chair requires color in my opinion.
The oil can really soaks into the wood which makes it hard to get off if a buyer wanted to remove it and stain the chairs to match some they had.
When you apply stain first, the stain soaks into the wood making any finish easy to remove.
I would keep an eye on Ebay to see what the chairs there sell for.
Certainly if your chairs are antique they have some value.
I do not think they would be worthless.
And if you could take them to a dealer he could advise you.
But don't despair. Gloss black chairs are a hard sell LOL.
Kindest Regards
Eileen