Egypt Growing Source of New Furniture

Exports of reproduction antique furniture from Egypt are steadily increasing. Several Egypt-based exporters are aggressively promoting sea containers for export to European and American markets.

Egyptian furniture reproductions include most all of the traditional European and American styles such as Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Queen Anne, Louis XVI, Empire, etc.

Authentic vintage furniture is made of several woods using the choicest species–or primary wood–only in the most visible surfaces. Structural pieces which are hidden in authentic furniture–such as glue blocks, drawer bottoms, etc.–are made from different less expensive species called secondary woods.

The vast majority of the new Egyptian furniture is made entirely of a single species of beech. In other words, hidden structural parts as well as the most visible surfaces are all the same type of wood. Any time an entire piece of furniture is made of a single type of wood, be suspicious.

Keep in mind it is not necessary to recognize wood by species to use this test. The widespread furniture reproductions from Indonesia, for example, also use only a single type of wood, mahogany, for both hidden and visible surfaces. The only exception to the use of primary and secondary woods would be in the case of country or rustic homemade furniture. All furniture claimed to have been made in a cabinet shop should use different species of woods in primary and secondary surfaces.

New Louis XVI chair from Egypt. Tapestry upholstery.