If a family made its own wood furniture to use, and not to sell on the open market, then no one outside that family would know about it
I am an appraiser for a local auction house, one that you might have seen on local TV once or twice. As you might imagine, this is a high end, low volume business, which means that we sell things for a lot of money, but we don’t do it very often. As a sideline, I make private appraisals for anyone who wants their antiques to be evaluated. I have enough status in my job that I have even been on Antiques Roadshow a few times. Basically, in this part of the country I have become the most reliable expert on custom wood furniture. This area has a lot of artisans in it, and has for generations, which means there is a plethora of amazing handmade furniture to be found if you know where to look. My favorite part of the job is that with such a vast array of wood furniture that is still in use after generations, I constantly discover new artisans. If a family made its own wood furniture to use, and not to sell on the open market, then no one outside that family would know about it. I love finding treasure troves of old handmade wood furniture in houses and estates, and it isn’t about the money, either. At this point in my career the money is good, so I can focus my energies on expanding my knowledge about handmade furniture in this area. It seems there is no end to the numbers of talented wood furniture artisans who have lived here over the last 200 years.