Cushman Furniture Company made lovely high quality furniture in maple and cherry. Indeed, the company produced beautiful furniture for a period of time in Vermont, until they went out of business in 1980.
To learn more about this unique furniture company, watch this Cushman Furniture video:
Cushman Furniture used incredible wood for their products. Indeed, the cold winters of New England make for very tight and solid maple wood. Of course, the company also used beautiful birch wood as well.
Frankly, Cushman furniture demonstrates incredible quality. Also, I think Cushman Colonial furniture is beautiful and timeless.
Cushman Furniture Company still has some collector value. However, most people want to know, Is secondhand Cushman Furniture Valuable?
Is Cushman Furniture Valuable?
Secondhand Cushman Furniture unfortunately does not have a huge resale value today. In fact, in my experience, not many people nationwide have heard of Cushman Furniture.
Perhaps in Vermont, people remember and think fondly of Cushman Furniture and therefore are proud to purchase it on the second hand market.
However, outside of this state, I feel that Cushman Furniture has a mediocre selling record. In fact, we had a difficult time selling Cushman Colonial Furniture in our store over the years. Some people even wanted to paint this beautiful maple furniture.
Cushman Colonial Creations Value
We sold this Cushman Colonial Creations Hutch cabinet for roughly $600 in 2016. Despite showing incredible quality, with dovetailed drawers and phenomenal maple wood, it simply did not sell quickly.
That said, some of the vintage Cushman dining tables sold for slightly higher amounts. After refinishing these solid maple Cushman tables, you really see the value and beauty.
So, for instance, this Cushman trestle table with two leaves sold for around $700 in 2017.
Additionally, this similar Cushman table sold for around $800 in 2018.
However, certain items, like Cushman dressers, seem to sell for much less. A tall chest of drawers in Birch by Cushman only brought around $400 retail value, after we refinished it.
The Cushman Furniture trestle dining room table in 2023 would sell refinished for between $1500 to $3000.
Indeed, in the original finish, we could not even receive an offer for $199.
Sadly, this vintage orange finish by Cushman does not seem stylish for today. Indeed, there are very few buyers for this color Cushman furniture, it seems.
Refinishing Cushman Furniture
On the other hand, refinishing Cushman Furniture seems to bring back the beauty of vintage Cushman furniture. Because the company used such high quality wood, it is relatively easy to refinish vintage Cushman furniture.
Indeed, if you are a reseller, it may also result in a higher retail value for your vintage pieces. As mentioned, 1970s Cushman furniture often has a very unattractive orange colored finish.
While probably popular in certain rustic style locales, this old maple color really turns a lot of people off. Honestly, it looks dated by today’s standards. Also, many people are reminded of boy’s room furniture when they see this maple color.
On the other hand, with some sanding, striping and refinishing, you can achieve a nice light finish on most vintage Cushman furniture. Again, while not everyone loves maple, this newly refinished color seems to have a much broader appeal on the used furniture market today.
So, I personally feel it is definitely worth it to refinish vintage Cushman Colonial furniture.