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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
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    South Coast NSW
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    Default Valuation? Any ideas on the value of this red cedar slab coffee table?

    Hi everybody,
    I am in the process of refinishing my red cedar coffee table so the finish in the pictures is not very flattering.
    Although my latest thoughts are to pay a local furniture guru to do it.

    I purchased this table from an Art Gallery about 20 years ago.
    It cost me $2500 in around 1995

    I have decided to sell it and was wondering if anybody here may have an idea of its value once its been refinished?

    Measurements are about -
    2150mm at its longest point;
    1120mm at its widest;
    760mm wide at the narrow end

    Bencedar.jpgcedar 2.jpg

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Perth
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    Default

    Who made it?

    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    Visit www.inthewoodshop.com for tutorials on constructing handtools, handtool reviews, and my trials and tribulations with furniture builds.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    lower eyre peninsular
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    Default

    biggest problem is not whats its worth, rather what are people willing to pay.

    Had a couple of slabs tried to sell for $400 each over 6 months, finally had an offer of $100 each and took it, next week another guys rings wanting to buy them at original price ...six months .
    I would love to grow my own food, but I can not find bacon seeds

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    South Coast NSW
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    Default

    I dont know who made it.

    Sounds like its beest to check out some cedar tables made by craftsmen and then compare prices etc

    Thanks.
    Ben

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
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    Perth
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    Ben, unless the table is made by a well-known maker, where you are paying for a name as much as the art, then it's value lies with the market value for a similar cedar slab. Sorry to have to say this.

    Could you past a picture or two of the legs and undercarriage? Perhaps we can suggest how best to present the table for sale.

    Also, I see that you have another thread where you are looking for a re-finisher. I would suggest that you do it yourself, as employing someone can be costly. I have had very good results with Evolution satin, a hard wax oil. This was rubbed on. At with all finishes, the hard work lies in the preparation of the surface ...





    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    Visit www.inthewoodshop.com for tutorials on constructing handtools, handtool reviews, and my trials and tribulations with furniture builds.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Newcastle
    Posts
    337

    Default

    If you purchased from an art gallery, look for a burnt in name mark or something underneath and on the legs. You wouldn’t want to accidentally reduce the value of something made by a famous artist (I find it unlikely in this case, but worth looking).

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    South Coast NSW
    Posts
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    Default

    Okay, thanks everyone.
    Its a learning process.
    The more I go through this the more I reconsider and may keep the old thing.
    I shall check for a name somewhere but have never noticed anything.

    That finish has come up nice Derek, thanks for that.

    I am having a little trouble finding a slab table similar to this though. They all seem to be boards...
    Havent had a really good look yet though.

    Kind regards all.

  9. #8
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Brisbane
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    Well, i hate to be the bad one here but i don't think it's worth much at all. I don't care who the "artist" might be and without seeing the leg set up there looks to be 2 to 3 hours work in that and unless the timber has a special story or is 00's of years old then i would say the gallery made a killing and honest woodworkers are the losers.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    South Coast NSW
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    Default

    Hi Double D,

    I find that interesting, as has been said, its only worth what someone will pay.
    When we purchased it it looked stunning in the gallery and neither me or my partner had seen anything like it.
    It just has that well balanced aesthetic, size, the way the curves fit etc. That makes you go, wow, theres something about that thats really nice.
    I'm no woodworker, but i have been in plenty of furniture shops and whenever I have the opportunity I visit wood shows, galleries etc.
    I am still yet to see a slab coffee table that I prefer, in my opinion.
    Yes its a basic leg setup, and not too much work as you say, however I dont agree that it was a dishonest sale.
    I actually recall the conversation with the gallery owner during the sale and she said she was only taking a 10% commission. So rest easy, the woodworker got the money .

    Ben

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
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    Perth
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    Hi Ben

    A quick search indicates that the value of a similar slab would be between $500 - $900. I would see yours at the upper end. Red Cedar is expensive, and yours is a nice example. The market changes, and art is in the eye of the beholder. You need to find someone who feels the same way, but I do think that the gallery price you paid is unlikely to reflect what you could obtain. Another gallery might sell it for that on commission, but that would include a large mark up for expenses. The reason I asked for a photo earlier was because the construction looked quite amateurish. It does not look like it was made by a "name", and so the value lies in the timber. With a photo, we can say what can be done to maximise its sale value.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    Visit www.inthewoodshop.com for tutorials on constructing handtools, handtool reviews, and my trials and tribulations with furniture builds.

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    South Coast NSW
    Posts
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    Default

    Hi Derek,
    Yes, im coming to understand how the value works and can see it may lie somewhere between $1500 and potentially getting back what i paid for it from an emotional sale/buyer.
    I think I would be confident getting $1500 based on the amount of oohs and ahhs from people who have visited the house.
    It has got me thinking and I cannot recall any visitor who has not commented on that table, which is quite interesting initself.

    This also got me thinking about the emotional attachment to hand made furniture compared to say bulk produced types.
    I'm wondering if woodworkers have difficulty in selling hand made pieces due to emotional attachments etc?

    In any case, I think the construction is very simple. Its simply a piece of recycled timber laying across the table with legs screwed into it.
    Its not really so important now as the more I learn about the finishing and care of the table, and the more I look at it (its been in storage for quite a while) I am pretty sure I am going to keep it and just focus on getting a nice finish.
    Thanks
    Ben

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Nsw
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    64
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    Default

    I was in a country community run art gallery on the weekend and thought of your post when I saw this.
    It had a price tag of $420 and a sold sticker on it. Take from that what you will. The timber was English Walnut
    Attached Images Attached Images

  14. #13
    Join Date
    May 2007
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    Sth Gippsland Vic
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    Its a nice coffee table Ben .
    Just roughly off the top of my head at the way this works for a maker. Raw dry slabs like that Ive seen in the past at the working with wood sales have ranged from $450 to $700 . They are probably cheaper Up north of me where the tree grows , I'm in in Vic the sellers are bringing them to Melbourne to sell . These are prices I saw ten years ago .

    So if you buy a slab like that up north ( The tree grows from Ulladulla NSW up ) for (guess) $300 or cut it yourself ($250 worth of time and equipment cost for 1 slabs after sticking and drying) and make the table and polish it quickly it owes you $1250 at $80 per hour . That's 12.5 hours to fit legs , sand , finish and deliver to gallery . Then the gallery doubles the price, and the gallery does its job standing and talking to heaps of people about it until someone takes it . . My guess once again.

    What is peoples experience with dealing with gallery's? I know they whack a fair bit on . And the gallery does its job standing and talking to heaps of people about it until someone takes it .

    So Woodworkers are used to being squeezed and not doing so well out of making furniture if they dont own the gallery or shop . The $80 per hour guess quickly goes down for many reasons if your working from a workshop and supplying someone else who has to make their profit as well.

    What I like about the table you chose to buy . Its Red Cedar . Its got almost the longest history for Timbers used in Australia from 1788. Once they found it they went mad for it after dealing with Gum trees then She Oaks, Rose Mahogany , Beef woods . And that cut from the tree is a nice crotch . They are special and harder to get if you need one now. Unless your the one out there with the chainsaw and a big enough tree. The crotch was used in the solid as decoration in door panels for a good amount of time in the early to mid 19th century . As well as being cut into all sorts of smaller pieces for veneering . Red Cedar has a habit of forming that wild grain in every fork large enough for a lot of uses. And you see it in lots more types of early pieces of furniture.

    So your table always has value as a nice select piece for other uses for traditional builders or Antique restorers. The door panels are normally 1/2 inch thick . looks like there is two panels worth in your top . Getting what you paid from a gallery back isn't possible unless you own a gallery . I think its worth more than just a coffee table in a second hand shop though. Getting that bit extra is pretty hard unless your in the business though .

    Hope you can sit and enjoy it a bit more with that bit of info .

    Here is a 1840s Cedar side board with such door panels There is plenty of such period pieces to see with such timber in the doors.
    Picture on the right . I see door panels in your top .

    24cba8f9cc5dcc4acd6a564f14821fb3.jpgcedar.jpg

    Rob

  15. #14
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    Default

    I don’t think you can establish a value based on materials cost X plus x amounts of labour at x dollars an hour. If you can get it that is great but you are often hard pressed to do so.
    The item is worth what the public perceives its value is. It is disappointing to see the paltry prices you see on home baked goods, arts and crafts, knitting and needlework items at shows and stalls, you have to wonder sometimes if they even cover their material costs let alone any labour component.
    And well artists who gets thousands plus for their pieces don’t spend any more time on them than the no namers do who sell for hundreds.
    The galleries markups may sound steep but their overheads are pretty high if they are paying rent, power, water, shop fittouts, insurances and sales staff wages so probably not on a gravy train like you might think

    i think it it is pretty hard gig all around

  16. #15
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    The gallery I use take 10%. I'm happy with that. A well run gallery can be a real asset to a furniture maker.

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