Mellow and worn aspect a surface acquires through age highly desirable quality on most antique furniture.The following are a few definitions found online and in print that highlight different perspectives of the concept: But patination in furniture has to be more complicated than that since few furniture surfaces are completely undisturbed over the life of a piece. The idea of patination comes from the encrustation on the surface of metal, especially bronze and copper, which indicates great age on an undisturbed surface. Some sources avoid it altogether and fail to include the word in glossaries and “furniture dictionaries.” Other sources just dance around a definition and state in glowing terms that it is “desirable” or “wonderful,” and only a few approach head-on in a real attempt to explain the concept. The approach to defining patina in the literature and on the Internet falls into three categories. It is very hard to accurately portray in a succinct definition but you know it when you see it. It turns out that patina apparently has a lot in common with pornography. A famous writer and windmill tilter from the 1970s, Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, chronicled his quest for the definition of “quality” in his book and how it eventually led him to mental instability. The pursuit of a definition of patina, however, must have limits. Maybe the sharper the definition, the more fluff, smoke, mirrors and confusion that can be eliminated from conversations about antiques. But if you were able to stop them in mid-sentence and ask that they define the word or the concept in 100 words or less that a novice could understand, how many could do it? And is the pursuit of a short, accurate definition a productive venture? Perhaps it is. It is one of the most common terms you hear when listening to an appraiser or auctioneer describing a truly nice old piece of furniture. Patina is obviously an important element in evaluating antique furniture. Then I started thinking, what was she really asking for? She was quite serious, and I gently told her we were all out at the moment but to check back later. – Years ago I had a customer who asked me to sell her some of the professional “patina” we used to restore antiques. Does that make it desirable, valuable – or beautiful?ĬRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. The crackled surface on this drawer front certainly falls under many of the definitions of patina.
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