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I could've also titled this, "Doesn't anybody watch Antiques Roadshow?" but don't think anybody over 60 is on the board.

Driving around yesterday, I saw a 4-drawer dresser on the side of the road in the rain. I was like, 'that doesn't look like that new shit furniture they make nowadays.' So I turned around to get a look. I pulled out the top drawer - glass and brass hardware, small hand-cut dovetails, solid wood, 1/16" flame birch veneer face. Sweet! So I pick up my brother-in-law's truck (the old wagon could've fit it - stupid hatchback). I get it home and find the intricately carved legs are not lathe-cut, but carved out of the same wood used on the sides and face and the base under the bottom drawer is solid wood, not a frame with plywood in the middle. The only issues are some minor water marks on the top and sides (probably from earlier than its time outside) and a few missing edges of the drawers that protect the veneer. Even the shellac has only a small amount of scaling on one side and the backboard is intact. Quality and craftsmanship are lost on idiots of today.

So i sent pics to my friend who's an antiques dealer and he estimated an easy $300-500 at auction if I want to sell it. Not bad for FREE!

Sweeet!

Real score!

And yes, I am, a furniture maker.... haha

Steve, definately check out Dougs website. I want one of those bigass wood doors he makes!

That looks like a nice piece. You don't find that quality anymore. It's all Ikea store bought shit with ten million little allen head bolts all over the place.

I found a really really nice oak chest of drawers at, of all places, a Habitat for Humanity charity store. It's almost like a pawn shop or good will store for extra parts left over from building or furnishing houses. You donate your stuff, they sell it and donate the money to Habitat for Humanity. I think I paid like $45 for it.

My fiance' and I inhereted some furniture from her dad when they moved out of New Orleans. Really nice cherry wood dresser and a china cabinet. Great stuff. And her brother just bought a house in Virginia (right down the street from George Washington's childhood home, as well as the Lee house of Robert E. Lee) that was built LONG ago. Old growth wood flooring, and original burl wood door knobs with skeleton-key locks.

Quality is definately lost in todays technologically motivated style. I'm all for modern, but it's really hard to beat hand crafted quality.

I only try to get used old furniture that's well made, but worth little and modernize it to my taste as the only quality furniture you can find nowadays is damn expensive. My bedroom set is a $200 rebuild of some decent 30 year-old stuff I had. I redid it in dark blue/red Chris Craft colors (had to make new doors and fix the drawer faces too much to stain), added some newer polished stainless hardware, and it looks like a couple 'G' set with the solid build that matches. Didn't come out dead perfect, but excellent for $200 and the amount of work I did to it. Most of the money was in the hardware.

This deal isn't my style, but I still haven't decided whether or not to sell it. I wish I had the key for the locks as I'm sure they work.

Doug, I'll check out your site when I have a better internet connection (on the road).