Antique Civil War Bed

[Gaterader]

  I have an old square post civil war bed with square spindles, I have asked a few antique stores this question and I'll ask you.  I want to sand blast the bed and repaint it.  It has three or four layers of paint on it and I was told that stripping it and painting it would not affect the value of the bed.  Is this true?

[balkandom]

During that era, furniture generally wasn't painted-strip it down (CAREFULLY!!!) and see what the woos underneath is. If it's a fancy or figured wood, no one in their right mind would have painted it in the first place.

My 2 cents,

Mike