How does your antique house clearance service work?

Here are four common scenarios:

1 If the contents of the house to be cleared have no antiques or collectables with resale value, then we suggest you use a reputable, licensed & insured house clearance company like Abacus.

2 Some of the house clearance contents may have resale value. Common items with resale value include antiques, precious metals, jewellery, collectables and artwork. We'll give you an allowance for these and deduct it against the cost of the clearance.

3 If the majority of your house clearance items are valuable and this value exceeds the clearance costs, we’ll give you the difference (either in cash or cheque).

4 And finally, where the contents of your property have been valued for probate, this value can also be deducted from the cost of your house clearance. No matter which service you need, we can help.

Read Our House Clearance FAQs | Read What Our Customers Say

We will buy vintage clothing, costume jewellery, antique furniture, 50s 60s 70s furniture, in fact we will buy anything antique or collectable we can sell.

We will happily look through and pick out antiques & collectables from various locations including cluttered houses, garages, lofts, or basements, even if it takes us all day. We do not mind getting dirty.

Not sure what you have? Then call us! You will be surprised at what we actually do buy. Our staff are very knowledgeable and will pick out items you would have never guessed were otherwise saleable.

Carlisle Antique House Clearance Areas We Cover: Alston, Annan, Armathwaite, Aspatria, Burgh by Sands, Caldbeck, Canonbie, Cumwhinton, Dalston, Gilsland, Glenridding, Greenhead, Gretna, Hesket Newmarket, Lockerbie, Longtown, Penrith, Pooley Bridge, Shap, Silloth, Tebay, Warwick Bridge, Wetheral, Wigton. And All Other Areas Of Carlisle.

Antique Dealer Carlisle Article

Polishing Antique Furniture Brasses and Hardware

When polishing while brass remains on antique furniture, do not polish brass edges without taking care to protect surrounding wood finish.

Once the decision to polish antique brasses has been reached, several issues should be considered. First of all, I recommend polishing antique brasses by hand exclusively. I caution against using a buffing wheel, which can cause severe damage to the brass, burning off its surface details with polishing compounds.

Protecting the Finish

If you intend to wax the piece of antique furniture as part of the finishing process, applying a light coat of wax around the perimeters of the brasses will help protect the wood’s finish during brass polishing.

Most often, antique brasses are polished in place on the furniture rather than first being removed. If you choose to work with the brasses attached to the piece, care should be taken to protect the wood surface, especially the original one. The easiest method is to insert an index card between brasses and wood.

A built-up residue from previous polishing is often seen around and under antique brasses. Use a soft brush to remove this build-up, then carefully vacuum the bits off the piece. Follow this with a cloth lightly dampened with water.

If I leave brasses on the antique furniture, should I polish their edges as well?

Trying to polish the edges of antique brasses while still installed on antique furniture is impossible to do without rubbing and damaging the wood finish. You may have seen furniture that had lighter areas around the brasses. This came about from polishing the edges of brasses while they were still situated on the antique furniture, with no protection or regard for the finish.

How To Polish Brasses

I recommend using modern paste-type brass or metal polishes that use microabrasives. Older liquid polishes use abrasives such as pumice, rottenstone, or tripoli, which are suspended in an ammonia-based solution. These solutions are much more aggressive than paste polishes that contain microabrasives and thus can potentially do more damage to the antique furniture finishes than paste polishes.

I like to apply the polish with cheesecloth, which lifts up tarnish and dirt rather than holding it on the brass surface the way a smooth cotton cloth can. Use small pieces of cloth and change them frequently. Polish the antique brass until the degree of brightness you prefer has been reached. Buff off the brass with a soft paper towel, which will tear off rather than grab at the points of the brass.

Polishing provides an excellent opportunity to become more familiar with your antique furniture. Take some time to study brass hardware. Just like the piece of antique furniture that bears them, brasses are artifacts to enjoy and study.

A Antique Dealer Carlisle Article

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