How Reproduction Antiques Balances Affordability with Authenticity

For many of us who can afford the time, patience, energy, careful thought, and selection to find genuine antiques to decorate our homes, we love the entire process from start to finish. Unfortunately, some of the most beautiful, most long-lasting genuine antiques are simply too prohibitively expensive for most of us who dream of a home filled with furniture made to last and age beautifully.

For Laurel Crown, we believe that having heirloom-quality, decades-lasting high-quality furniture made to the exact specifications of genuine antiques is an essential service to the community of antique lovers and collectors alike, who deserve to see their dreams come to fruition whether that dream is the ultimate period bedroom to drift away in, or an office and library made for long evenings by the fire with favorite books and family.

We believe that the reproduction of antique furniture can balance authenticity and affordability, and today, we’ll explore what makes Laurel Crown’s furniture the perfect solution.

How Can a Reproduction be ‘Authentic?’

Many of you may wonder this. A reproduction, surely, cannot be the same as the genuine decades or centuries-old authentic antique, can it?

At Laurel Crown, authenticity starts by tracing our woodworking history back to the master artisans who have influenced antique designs for centuries—long after they have passed and generations of style have come and gone—antiques remain timeless in style and décor. Look no further than Thomas Chippendale, whose influential book and designs remain one of the most preciously sought-after antiques of all time and still echo in modern design today.

Chippendale Furniture emerged during 18th-Century Europe with a blend of Rococo, Chinese, and Gothic design elements. Modern furniture designers still use hallmarks such as intricate back splats, cabriole legs, and ball-and-claw feet that hold this style’s beauty in high regard, melding its distinct elements into up-and-coming furniture trends, seamlessly connecting the past to the present.

Laurel Crown replicates many of the most highly regarded antique styles and eras, not in the modern sense with factory-made, churned-out low-cost materials, and faux veneers, put together with cheaply made joint connections—but the tried-and-true centuries-old method of mortise and tenon.
What makes Mortise and Tenon so Special and Authentic in Reproductions?

Many modern wooden furniture designers and makers use faster, easier joints or dowel joints. A dowel joint, or doweling, connects two pieces of wood by drilling dowel holes in each piece and using a wooden peg (the dowel) to attach them. Like Mortise and Tenon, Dowel joints act like a fastener, bridging between two boards to hold things together. They also swell when covered with wood glue, which helps lock the joint in place and become invisible once assembled.

While a dowel joint has its uses and place, they have a higher risk of becoming worn, making furniture unstable, and pre-purchased dowels or pre-made dowels in many factory settings have less than desirable quality standards. In most cases, when testing dowels, the dowel joint test samples failed not with the glue used, but because the dowels were faulty, joints failed. In some experiments, where all joints made either from dowel or mortise and tenon cut precisely to be a 6 x 1.7 cm rail attached to a 3.5 x 3.5 cm post, the dowel joints began failing at around 120-140 lbs, which the same size mortise and tenon did not start showing stress until upwards of 190 pounds and higher.

This is one of the essential reasons why we use Mortise and Tenon joints; we do it exactly how the old masters did—by highly trained and skilled professional cabinetry and carpenters for assured quality, stability, and longevity—just as long as some of the oldest antiques still in use today.

An antique reproduction created by skilled people who genuinely care for getting as many details as authentic as possible will provide you with a piece of furniture that can last almost as long as, or longer, than furniture still in use and created centuries ago. Compared to today’s fast fashion in every aspect, from clothing to furniture—which often sees you having to repair or replace within a year or two—an antique reproduction is an investment that can save you thousands of dollars of having to replace quickly worn down, cookie-cutter pieces.

A handmade antique reproduction that is hand-carved, hand-sanded, and hand-finished, made out of genuine mahogany wood, is already naturally inclined to become a family heirloom, as these pieces will outlast and can be handed down from generation to generation.

Last but never least, because these are reproductions, each piece is ready for you and your family to add its own sentimental and historical value without the price tag of several years of someone else’s history.

At Laurel Crown, we create one-of-a-kind, handmade antique reproductions with the same quality and design that, in some cases, rival even that of our beloved cabinetry masters without the shocking price tag, thus balancing the world of authenticity and affordability at the same time.

Antique reproductions at Laurel Crown encompass the same soul, sense of weight, and history that any authentic antique can have, and like antiques, our furniture, over the years, quickly becomes more than just a room piece. It becomes a piece of family history, with stories connected to lived lives and memories created.

At Laurel Crown, we are dedicated to bringing the beauty of antiques, ensuring people and homes around the country and worldwide can enjoy and delight in their very own pieces for countless generations to come.