Buying Antiques: do you want them looking new or well worn?

[Lysholm]

Do you like your old stuff looking new or old?

Or does it depend on the item?

 

[VictorR]

Really depends on the item. I like most of my copper and brass to be shiny, but grey-black "tarnished" silver has an elegance of its own.

 

[Gerontius]

Depends on what it is.
I prefer it to be original. Original-and-good-condition is my favorite way to find them, and if there's a way to effect a proper restoration, then I'll do that. Only use period-authentic materials, and you'll get nice results that blend better with a nice collection.

I do not like polishing brass, but lacquered brass gets ugly as it tarnishes.
If a piece is wooden I'll probably clean it up.
Nickel-plated metals are always polished, and black enamel too.
Clocks are only interesting if they run, so time to make them work.
Old books are generally in fine enough reading shape as is.
When it comes to things like old shotguns, rust is actually dangerous, so I like to make sure those are cleaner than they are. I replace broken pieces of things, clean up this, cover up that damage, make sure I have something I can genuinely put back into service and use.
I've kind of quit collecting and will only resume when it's time to get a hold of some furniture for an actual house (like for a family home.)

 

[Shevek]

Mostly, I like things to be serviceable, but I used to collect brassware of indeterminate age and polish almost all the little flaws out of it.

 

[Tom]

The things I collect I prefer as new looking as possible. Aging and patina doesn't really go well with modern toys.

 

[The Pandector]

The best antiques have been well used by someone who loved them.

 

[Forest Cat]

I like wood antiques and those usually look old and a little worn, I like these old wooden trunks with rose paint. People used them for storage and traveling and they are big, like a pirate treasure chest. They are usually a little worn, it would be strange if they looked new.

 

[Magna]

It depends on the antique. There are certain things like old coins where it's sacrilege to clean off the patina and actually decreases their value. There are other things like antique straight razors where collectors of those items generally only buy the razors in good condition or if they're not, they restore them to like new/usable condition.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I like wood antiques and those usually look old and a little worn, I like these old wooden trunks with rose paint. People used them for storage and traveling and they are big, like a pirate treasure chest. They are usually a little worn, it would be strange if they looked new.

That's a girl's dowry right there. Probably full of hand embroidered bed linens, silver tea service and candlesticks, long beeswax taper candles that smell of rich honey, china dishes, and other things needed to make a proper home. She would have started around age eight or ten, and worked with her mother and sisters all her adolescent years and into her mid twenties to fill it with both handmade and storebought finery.