In my last column, I talked about the background behind the brown furniture market. As you may recall, brown furniture is the antiques trade parlance for furniture that is generally hardwood and can be either inlaid or carved. Its an area of the market that has nose-dived in popularity over the last several decades, with items bringing a fraction of what they once did because of changing styles and tastes. One of the reasons for the rise in popularity of antique brown furniture in the 1970-90 period was that new brown furniture was not always of the highest quality, nor did it hold its value in the collectibles market. Laminate veneered furniture simply would not last and had limited secondary value. To the contrary, a Sheraton chest of drawers could be purchased for $1,500, and it would not only physically hold up but would also probably keep, if not grow in value. This changed when we began to see a rise in quality bench made and then commercially made new brown furniture. An example being the reproduction Stickley line that had a quality of both construction and materials as well as value in the secondary market. The changing taste of Millennial and Gen Z buyers also has impacted the brown furniture market severely. Witness the posting of a popular online article that lists the top items that your kids wont want. Sterling flatware and brown furniture are pretty high on that list. Now, I have to admit that I do find such generalizing of generations to be wrong. Yes, I am sure that there are 20- to 40-somethings who have been raised on plastic furniture with plastic Tupperware to eat off, but, I also know that there are many who grew up at least knowing about brown furniture and what a salad fork is. Perhaps not as many as in the past, but they are not completely gone as a generation. I think that we are in a golden period where parents looking for that ideal wedding gift for a young couple could take the newlyweds to Adamstown, New Oxford, Hagerstown, Carlisle, Mullica Hill, or Lambertville and offer to buy them some brown furniture. Let their tastes dictate what they choose, but give them an opportunity to see a range of furniture styles and choices. An example of which is in a YouTube video that I recently watched. The video featured a millennial couple in their first home. They were in awe of a rather hideous shelf clock from the 1950s. Now every newly married couple in 1957 America got that kind of veneered clock along with a silver plated Paul Revere bowl. The millennial couple was talking about how they had found it in an aunts house and what a wonderful antique it was. The house they lived in was not cheap, nor were the decorator goods they had. As such, I desperately wanted to offer to take them out and show the range of good clocks with real personality and style that they could own. Before folks yell and scream that I am being judgmental, let me say that yes, I am being judgmental. The couple could find that clock or table in the antiques world and have something of beauty, quality and rarity that could grow in value. So maybe we can all plan to work to make 2023 the year of the revival of brown furniture. Born to collect should be the motto of Peter Seiberts family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seiberts writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years worth of antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.