Buy it! Refinish it yourself....it'll cost you about $20....and you will learn a huge amount...
Frankly I wouldn't refinsh it....just spruce it up a little.
The cost of that is minimal!
Linda C

You will never find an easier piece to do. I too, wouldn't mess with the finish but if you insist -- I would start with some mineral spirits to clean it. Most of the time -- that is all you would need.

But if you think it needs a little more work, then use a finish restorer -- Howard has one, Forby's have one. And that is about it.

Pretty piece.
Cathy

To refinish or not to refinish. It's up to you. For me I would . I'm not a fan of having "dirty" pieces in my home. Yes I know you can clean them,but I'd rather give it a new finish yet,maintain the old look.
If you don't know what your doing I would not attempt the refinishing process yourself. It's not as easy as it appears.
You could expect to pay in the upper teens ( $1800 ) to have it professionally refinished, that does not mean have the guy in the barn behind the antique do it for you in his spare time. An amatuer might chanrge you half that price, but a professional with a shop, employees, insurance, payroll etc.. will charge you the going rate for your area.
If you go the refinishing route please let me know and I can help you with questions you should ask when speaking with a perspective refinisher.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I am going to look at it this weekend so will let you know if I buy it. Thanks stocky for the help offer if I decide to get it refinished. I was guessing around $1200 so this will definitely help decide if I want to get it or not.

Thanks again.

How much are they asking for it,that should be part of the equation as to buy or not buy .

$300-what do you think?

bebe...if you want a new piece...buy a new piece. They make very good reproductions of Arts and Crafts pieces. But if you want an antique, don't remove the finish and sand it down and polish up the hardware and let someone, who's business it is to re work old furniture talk you into making it look like new.
Sorry, but that is a very nice example of an arts and crafts piecs. The finish looks to be in fine shape...easy enough to spruce up with a cleaner, polish and a little finish.
There are all kinds of people who will make you a new piece, or sell you a ready made one. But that will not be antique nor have the charm of an antique.
I ask you....why are you looking at antique furniture if you are thinking of having it "professionally refinished"? If you want it to look new buy new.
There are several pieces in my house, family pieces that my parenta and inlaws had "professionally refinished"...one a lovely Sheraton mahagony night stand, dating to about 1810....and it was stripped, sanded and given a French polish....and the value and charm ruined.
Another piece is an 1820 Pennsylvania rifle and it was re blued, stripped, the charred portions filled with something and varnished and the brass laquered.....and the value destroyed.
If you love it, buy it and clean it up and use it. If you think you want it sanded down to look new and all the stain even and no sun fading etc....buy new.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: New mission oak

linda and I are at opposite spectrums in regarding how to handle old furniture. She also tries to take jabs at me,thinking that I'm looking for business by trolling the internet , Wrong again LINDA.
She likes to leave things as is and she's very content to keep them in the condition she found them in.
I'm not of the belief that " alittle cleaner and polish" will do anything to the piece. Most of the time they put a fake shine on the piece. This buffet should have a soft satin finish and should not be spruced up with some over the counter remedies.
I have no interest in having a piece like yours in my dining room that looks like it just came out of Ma and Pa Parkers house.
I want an old piece that has been restored to a new piece,one that still looks old but has a new finish etc..
I don't know what type of furniture you have in your home. Would an unrefinished/original condition ( I actually doubt it's the original finish)fit with the rest of the decor in your home ? It would be completely out of place in most homes unless your hobby is collecting antiques and leaving them in the conditon you found them.
For $300 it's a great price, there's no need to buy a reproduction . I don't understand why if you want to refinish it Linda tells you to buy a new one instead.
It's hard to tell from the pictures, but there seems to be very little finish left on the piece.Again, this is all about what YOU like.
Linda states the "value and charm ruined" on the night table, it was only ruined for her. You might love the way the piece looks now.
You are not ruining the value of the piece by refinihsing it,so no worries on that end. Do what you want to do with the piece.
Again, If you decide to go the refinishing route I'd be happy to answer any questions for ya.

You stated it it perfectly....I don't want my old stuff to look like a repro. I want to see the history in it....the small chips and dings. I like old chintz fabric with the hint of age, I love old china and don't at all mind a little stain in the bottom of the ironstone pitcher. I don't want my antique furniture to look like new. I love the stuff in Colonial Williamsburg and in Teliesen both West and East. My kitchen table has a line of wear and circular depressions on the bottom of the leaf where a cherry picker or meat grinder was clamped on....I love that!
And you are dead wrong about the night stand being ruined...after my mother's death I had to have it appraised ( in the L.A. area by the way) and a pro confirmed what I suspected. I was concerned with charm, the appraiser with value.
We'll have agree to disagree, I guess.
But, one thing to be said for my point of view is it can always be undone, whre once the old piece has been stripped and sanded of patina, there is no turning back.
Linda C

Yes, but the patina is in the eye of the beholder. To me patina is a piece that still has a finish,a pretty descent one at that. More along the lines of the type of piece that we might restore ( because there is enough finish in place to restore it). I don't think of this sideboard and think patina.
A "pro" confirmed . A "pro" appraiser is an oxymoron. What credentials give this person the ability to make such a claim. Geez, the roadshow folks would have you believe that refinishing ANYTHING will destroy the piece .
What's ultimately most important is that the OP handle the furniture in a manner that suits her needs .

There is an "antique" store not far from me that has destroyed $100,000+++ worth of furniture by refinishing and polishing (or replacing) hardware and - OMG - can you imagine they even put those stamped little metal corner decorations and curlicues on nice old French furniture they import by the container-load. There is a HUGE market for that carp - usually bought by people with much more money than sense. Of course they think they are buying an "antique" and then don't understand why the value is far below what they were lead to believe.

That said, if you buy the piece of furniture, do what you want with it, what ever makes you happy. It isn't a museum quality piece that is one of a kind so it really dosn't matter if you refinish it or not. Life is too short to sweat stuff like that.

Alexa

We, too, have a "major" antique store that "refinishes" everything with Delf polyurethane. 1. The smell of that is so strong -- I can pick it out a mile away. 2. The finish looks like plastic!

I am of the belief ........ first, do no harm. There are lots of times that refinishing is the correct and only thing to do. But do it with historic integrety. I guess polyurethane is fine for a dining room table but for a wardrobe or bedstead???

Personally, I would rather care for a piece properly than to have "easy" care. And I would not refinish the piece pictured -- if it looks like it does in the photo. There may be things that we don't see (ring marks, burns etc, delamination of veneer) But as I see it -- I'd clean it and leave it.

Cathy

There is an "antique" store not far from me that has destroyed $100,000+++ worth of furniture by refinishing and polishing (or replacing) hardware

So your saying that all refinishing of pieces is bad ? or did they just do a piss poor job.

Hello--I think it looks just fine, pretty much as is. Some things do call for refinishing, and some don't. This is of the latter category, IMHO.
But if you just can't decide, then I'll take it off your hands! ; ) Love it!

Glad I am not the only one who thinks it doesn't need refinishing.
My take on the whole process is you don't ask someone who does it for a living if a piece needs to be stripped, sanded and have a new finish put on it any more than you ask a plastic surgeon if he thinks your chin is saggy or ask a house painter if your trim needs painting. To a hammer everything looks like a nail.
Linda C

lindac: "To a hammer everything looks like a nail."

Heh-heh! I think if you put an old piece where you want it and you get it in context with other appropriate items, textiles and finishes in a room, what looks a little dog-eared by itself often assimilates in just fine. On the other hand, we found a great, old Arts & Crafts rocker for a reasonable price that had and ultra thick, gloppy, glossy polyurethane finish on it, and taking it off (which I haven't yet finished doing) was the only option. But if it hadn't been for the horrible encrustation, I would have left it alone. So that's what I mean when I write that some things do call for refinishing of some sort. It was just not usable as it was.

If you like the pice the way it is fine , but if someone puts a glass of water down on the top of that buffet ,I'll bet the house that it will leave a ring. Judging from the pix, the finish is almost non existant. That might not matter to you.
If you look closely at the last picture( the view from above) you can see right near the front edge what it looks like underneath all that mess of old finish. Thats what it should look like.
Most people don't understand what's "underneath" that old finish.
A couple came into my shop today with an old oak mirror/coat rack . it had the 4 original brass hooks, it was nice. Initially they only wanted us to re-pair and re-glue the piece, basically make it structurally sound. I explaind the options and prices. They told me it was going in log cabin type of home and the liked the "old" look and did not intend to refinihs it .Then I took a rag with some mineral spirits to it and showed them what was under the dirt, and explained that upon refinishing it, you would have more clarity to the finish and you would be able to see the grain,wood,detail etc.. better.
OH MY the wife said, that's beautiful . In the end the decided not to refinish it,because they didn't want to spend the money on it. We will only repair it and make a cleat for them to be able to hang it on the wall safely.

I think you need to educate your customer, allow them to see the options and then armed with all the information they have collected allow them to decide how they want to handle their piece.

I am certainly not suggesting that restoring an antique to it's original condition is bad.

However the "professionals" that think putting poly carp, adding those stupid stamped decorative corners and decorations or somehow improving on the original should be approached with the utmost caution. There are too many shiesters out there who will "improve" on an antique until it is only fit for a JC Penney showroom. If you want JC Penney looking furniture than just go buy it!

Alexa