The piece is cute. Looks like maybe it's a sewing chest? The detail on the legs is interesting.

It all depends on your budget and how much you want it. The price might be fair, but I would have a very hard time buying it based just on that tiny picture and lack of detail.

If you do your homework first, you get a good feel for how much of a deal something is or isn't.

Costs of comparable antiques can vary quite a bit depending on where they are in the country and who is selling them. They sell higher on the west coast and cheaper in the midwest, for instance. Window shopping on eBay can help you learn what a given item might be worth -- if six people are in a bidding war you know someone thinks it's a bargain; if it's sitting with no bids clear to the end it might be because it's priced too high. You can get some education there if you watch things for a while. Check out "completed listings" too to see what sold and for what price.

If I'm going to pay shipping on something, I need a good reason, like that's the only place I can find this one thing that I just have to have. Or that it's actually cheaper including shipping, than it would be for me to buy it locally.

Have you looked in your local Craigslist? I'm amazed at the number of antiques listed in mine constantly, and often at stupendous prices (*but sometimes not, so do your homework). Besides, you get to go see it in person before you plunk your money down. You get to look underneath, examine joints, feel the texture, shake it a bit to determine how wobbly it is, look for small cracks or dings in the finish, etc. Have you browsed your local antique shops? You can sometimes find wonderful bargains there, too.

With antiques, if they're in stellar shape and have never been refinished/repaired they are worth the most. If they've been repaired/refinished, their value is reduced.

Hope this helps and please keep us posted. But of course if they need repair they should get it and if it's already done to your satisfaction that's one less thing for you to do or pay someone to do.

Post this on the Antiques Forum and someone will surely have some ideas for you. I have nothing good or bad to say about Ebay, Craig's List, etc. simply because I don't use them. When it comes to furniture, particularly something purported to be antique furniture, I want to look at it, touch it, see if it was pieced together from disparate parts, discover if new legs were screwed/glued on an old case... kick the tires, so to speak.

But that's just me; many people have been delighted with their finds.

It is very cute and I like it a lot but I do not know much about Antiques except I find many of them cute and stylish like the lamps I bought on EBay that I will post close up pictures of when they arrive.

Duluthinbloomz4, that's the thing about Craigslist. You can go look at it in person before you buy.

I just learned on the furniture forum that the worth of a piece can be determined by the type of dovetail in the drawer. This is one way, I'm sure there are others. I posted a photo of my drawer from my dresser and was told it was factory made, not hand made so cutting it to make a vanity is no big deal. I didn't want a priceless antique as I knew I'd be cutting a hole in it for the sink, so this is perfect. It's an antique, just not a very expensive one. I paid $500 for this one and it's in excellent condition so I think I did pretty good. Here are photo's. I have a washstand I also purchased, but need to check the drawer on it.

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I'm aware Craig's List is/can be local, but, in this case, the OP mentioned the piece was found "online" and would incur shipping charges. If this item were local, and from the picture of what appears to be a relatively small table, it seems it could easily be picked up and put in the trunk or back seat of a car after inspecting it and deciding it was a must have item.

Thank you for your replies. I am so bad at purchasing anything vintage, which is why I buy new and just admire antiques from afar. Good idea to look on ebay to see what things have gone for.

My local CL is not that great. I think I have to keep looking since most of the stuff on there is contemporary and cheap junk. I think I haven't been looking long enough and just need to keep my eyes open.

I may shop around some more since I'm obviously clueless but I will also post on the antiques forum just to see what they think. Shipping is about $50 so overall it would cost $250.

Brutuses, your finds is what made me start looking at antiques in the first place! I have to "blame" you for peaking my interest in the first place LOL!
Thanks again.

No idea if that's a good price or not, but that's a darling table -- love the legs!

I've been collecting antiques and pre-loved furniture for years now. I'll never have the money for big expensive stuff and am not an expert, but here's my take on it. When I look at an antique, I like to compare it to what I could buy brand new at the furniture store. A few years ago, I needed a white-painted dresser for my daughter's room. I went to all the local furniture places and found stuff made out of veneer and particle board for $300-400. Target's put-it-together-yourself stuff was running about $200. I found a solid maple dresser at a local antique place for $110. After a little sanding and a couple coats of paint, it looks nicer than anything I saw new - it's solid and sturdy and will last a lot longer than particleboard/veneer pieces as well.

Was the dresser worth $110 on the antiques market? I have no idea, but it was definitely worth $110 (or more) to me as a dresser. And I think that unless you are buying investment-grade antiques, that's the best way to look at antique and vintage furniture purchases.

Now I'm betting that for a solid-walnut end table with that level of detail you'd easily be looking at $400-500 in a furniture store - if you could even find one made that well. Can I say for sure that it's a $250 antique? No. But I can say that it's a heck of a nice table for $250, and if I needed a table of that size and color, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

I second everything lkplatow said.

And I will add about the shipping: if the table-shopping in your area is not so good, then factor in the aggravation, time, and gasoline that you would spend driving around to find a comparable table for the same price minus the shipping. It could be that $50 in shipping is a bargain!

I third lkplatow's comments, and I do the same thing as far as comparing an item to what I would have to pay for a similar item in a conventional furniture store (if I could even afford to buy it new, which I usually can't!). I don't buy attempting an "investment" and counting on maybe there being some future value increase, I buy things to use and I think about whether it is worth $X to me. I rely on eBay a lot since Craigslist where I am has a nasty habit of sucking like a black hole - I think there are too many people watching "Antiques Roadshow" and thinking their junk is so teddibly teddibly valuable! ;-) I can't afford the days of downtime to recover from two or three hours in the car to go look at and maybe buy something, so I just find it a lot more manageable to have things delivered right to my door. There's a very charming and well-priced end table on my eBay watch list now, but it's local pickup only and more than an hour away so I'm waffling on it. (DH fulfilled his quota of playing fetch for me with that trip to Boston!)

One bit of advice I do have is don't be shy about asking questions of the seller, many have a bit more information but are just lazy about posting it in the description or don't volunteer it as it may turn off potential buyers. Ask for additional pictures if at all possible. Try to get photos of the underside, the back, any labels or stamps, and the drawers (both side view as in brutuses' first photo and interior to see if the bottom has split or separated from the sides). If it's veneered, ask if there were any cracks or lifts in the veneer before it was reglued, because sometimes if the veneer wasn't glued down just right with the right glue it can pop back up later. Ask if the drawer operates smoothly or is tight or loose. Ask if there is an odor to the piece - a musty smell may indicate poor storage, like in a barn or basement, which can negatively affect a piece of furniture by causing cracking or loosening of the joints and lifting of veneers, and it can be tough to get a cigarette smoke odor out of some furniture. I once came across a piece that had been stored in a barn and even on that cold day there was a perceptible odor of cat spray - I cannot imagine what it would have smelled like under warm conditions! If they don't respond well to my questions (as opposed to maybe they just don't know), I better want that item pretty desperately to purchase from that seller. Check out their other auctions, current and completed, and look for a pattern. If the item's been listed half a dozen times with no bids, there is likely a problem with either condition or price.

It's quite a cute table although it looks like it's a lift-top which I find rather inconvenient since to get at the storage space you have to take everything off the table, so make sure you think about its functionality along with its appearance.

Wow! Thank you for the words of wisdom and great advice!

You are right, I don't think I'll be able to find a solid wood table that has a unique design in my local furniture store for $250! Looking at it from that perspective instead of a "is this a real antique and am I getting ripped off" perspective makes it appear like a real bargain.

I am going to e-mail the seller the questions suggested and ask for more pictures.

In the meantime, I'm going to make my way over to some antique shops tomorrow that my friend told me about to see what else is out there. If I don't see anything else I like, I think I'll purchase this little table though johnmarie did make a good point about having to remove everything on top to get to the storage area.

In any event, I learned about a whole new way of looking at things when shopping for "antiques". Thank you for the invaluable advice.