With fine antiques, if you have an original piece, such as a highly carved Victorian, you might not want to refinish it because of the value and the finish that's originally on it. You can clean it and then maybe just rewax it, but you don't take the finish off. If you have a production piece made by factories, it may be made out of 10-1000 pieces. The finish probably isn't that valuable, but the piece is. So you take the old finish off and replace it with a new finish. The finish protects the wood, and as long as you can keep the wood in good shape, it will last for centuries.
