The Valuable Vintage Table You Should Never Pass Up If You Spot It At An Estate Sale

If you've spent much time browsing estate sales or antique stores of small-town America, you've probably run across a few pieces of Lane furniture. The company made cedar chests for decades and expanded in the 1950s to produce some of the most-collected furniture in America. In late 1958, Lane began manufacturing the furniture line you should be on the lookout for: The distinctive Acclaim line, which is often among the prized items you'll find at estate sales.

What makes the Acclaim furniture (mostly tables, but many other pieces as well) so easy to spot is the dovetailed inlaid design, which borders tabletops and other surfaces. The Acclaim pieces weren't the only — or even the most refined – furniture Lane made during the 1950s and '60s, but they have captured the imagination of American furniture aficionados ever since they came onto the scene. The Acclaim line grew to at least 48 pieces in its prime. And if you see one of these pieces while thrifting, you may want to go ahead and snag it.

The Acclaim line, created by Dutch designer Andre Bus, launched in 1958. They started with tables but eventually included just about everything the company could veneer a faux dovetail onto. Acclaim became immensely popular by blending a midcentury vibe with more traditional style. Lane had other lines that were more Scandinavian influenced as well, including the Perception line with sculpted legs, the Dimension line with geometrical designs, and the atomic-age wedge tables, long oval cocktail tables, and boomerang tables of other collections.

So, the movement seems to owe its inertia to the confluence of Danish modern design, American tradition, and a touch of grandiosity (as evidenced by the huge fake dovetails). The Kelley Gallery of 20th Century Modern Design described the Acclaim collection as likely "the most collected furniture group in history." By around 1972, however, Acclaim had been discontinued and Lane merged with a recliner manufacturer, kicking off a less exciting era that persists today.

Vintage pieces like this can be difficult to unpuzzle, shrouded as they are in the mildewy monochrome mists that obscure everything before the Internet. We know that the earliest Acclaim pieces were elm with a walnut veneer, that elm was later replaced with ash, and that a later Acclaim II line replaced the veneer with laminate. You can confirm the authenticity of Acclaim furniture using its serial number (similar to dating a Lane cedar chest) and vintage online catalogs may be able to help with identification.

Acclaim prices are all over the place, depending on where they're sold, the condition they're in, and when the pieces were produced, among other factors. Fifty and 56-inch coffee tables are listed online for prices ranging from around $500 to $1,350. But it's worth noting that the average price of sold tables is about $500, while the average price of unsold tables is $1,100. And a very similar table branded Virginia Maid, which has corner inlaid bowties rather than the signature Acclaim dovetails, sold for around $300. (Virginia Maid was a brand name under which Lane made cedar chests and other furniture.)

Acclaim step side tables are also relatively easy to find. The unsold single tables we looked at averaged around $1,100, while unsold sets averaged just $1,350 for a pair. But there are always differences and exceptions. Condition varies, as do the prices at particular resellers. But if you see anything below the lowest of these prices at an estate sale, it might just be a great buy.

Another source we checked is Etsy — admittedly not among the best places to shop for Scandi-inspired furniture — for 50-inch and 56-inch Acclaim tables and found five listings. The three unsold tables averaged $965.33. One table sold for $900, and the other (albeit a model with integrated drawers) was supposedly sold for $50,000 by an artist ... either a performance artist or a brilliant marketer. On the whole, the price for a 50ish-inch Acclaim coffee table seems to be on the high end of the $500 to $900 range.