Riddle me this, antiquist…What is the result of care (dusting, waxing, polishing) & the result of neglect (dirt, grease, grime)?  What is both man-made (scratches, nicks, dings) & natural (sunlight, chemical changes in the wood & its surface).  You guessed it - Patina!  The best definition of patina comes from the Godfather of American Antiques, Israel Sack (1883 - 1959) - “Patina is everything that happens to an object over the course of time.”  Sack is said to have used the following analogy to help define “patina” for one of his senior female patrons: “Today you are a lovely woman of sixty.  However, who you are today is not who you were when you were twenty.  The difference is patina.”  Patina refers to an antique’s finished surface.  Patina is the mellowing of the finish in the wood’s pores.  It cannot be faked, reproduced or replicated, because the most important ingredient is time.  Patina is what gives an antique character.  The soft glow & depth of color of a fine patina will make a collector weak in the knees.  It remains the Holy Grail for antiques collectors.  And it adds value.  Once an antique has been stripped or refinished it loses its patina forever.  It may take a couple of centuries for its patina to be built back up.  Patina is evidence of the antique’s history & proof of its authenticity.  When it is lost, the value of the piece can be a tenth of what it would have been with its original patina.

This Chippendale mahogany card table was made in New York circa 1760 to 1780.  It has a choice mellow brown patina & shows us the natural color differences between the exterior & the interior.