Baker funiture, I thought it's high end, but...

[zheng]

I found an antique little side table made by Baker. Looks nice from the picture.

the seller asks $80 for it. I thought it's a good deal since from what I learned, Baker is a really high end furniture maker. So I went ahead to look at it.

It looked nice in person still, but I could see the old looking of it and there are scratches on the top. I didn't went it through in more details as there's no sufficient light in the seller's house to clearly see the detail. And I felt kind of awkward to investigate it in someone's house. It's a baker, and for $80, I couldn't go wrong too much, I think.



After I returned home, I gave it a thorough clean and polish, which gave me the chance to see all the details. I don't think I went wrong to buy it, but I am quite DISAPPOINTED!

I first noticed that the legs are not a one piece product. the picture below clearly shows that the toe is a glue up.



When I kept cleaning, I found, oh no, the leg is not just 2 pieces, it's 3 pieces glue up, look at the thigh of the leg, there is a line indicates glue! look the picture.



Ok, I was quite disappointed at this point. But at least the top of table is a nice two-board construction, I thought.

But, wait a second, as I kept cleaning, I finally noticed, the 2 boards are just VENEER, look at the side of the table, there are clearly multiple boards underneath the veneer. I was totally DISAPPOINTED now, and had no interest in any more cleaning.



I think I learned a lesson in this furniture hunting. Brand doesn't guarantee quality. It seems that this Baker table is not a poor quality, but really didn't meet my expectations on a high end brand, like Baker.

Anyway, I still want to make my investment (even though it's $80) into a joyable little piece of furniture. I am thinking to refinish it. But can I do it on the veneer, even though the veneer seem thicker than it normally is. and is it really worth to invest my labor into it?