Antique Empire fruit wood bookcase, from the early 1800’s and just out of our Old Plank restoration department. Our craftsmen spent nearly an entire week, just restoring the Empire bookcase structure. All the joinery was checked, the doors were re-fitted on the Empire bookcase and even the locks were rebuilt. The finish is a hand-applied padded lacquer, which is commonly referred to as an English polish. The French version would be applied the same way, but would be shellac based. The English is lacquer is a harder finish and more difficult to apply. This Empire bookcase is very unusual, because of its petite size and it is one of a matching pair we just received.
