The easiest way to identify if a piece of wooden furniture is high quality or mass produced junk is by checking the joints- dovetail, mortise and tenon and dowel joints are all typically considered a sign of quality construction.
There are exceptions to this rule, but there's one wood joint that's an unmistakable sign of quality- the precise and difficult to cut Japanese sunrise dovetail joint.
The sunrise dovetail is such a perfectly tight fitting joint that only master furniture makers use them in their builds, but when they're done right the end result is beautiful to behold.
Woodworking teacher Theo Cook of the Robinson House Studio Furniture School proves he's a master of the craft with this video, where he shows off his super tight Japanese sunrise joint skills!
-Via Laughing Squid