Featured Dark (Black) Veneered Sideboard - Style? Age? Origin -German?

Hello
My first post so please be gentle!
I am looking to find out more info about this sideboard - Any clues at all would great!
My folks are emigrating and I am assisting with selling furniture. This item was bought at auction about 30 years ago - my mother was a dab hand at getting a deal - I think she paid £5 for it at the time!
There have obviously been quite a few additions/fix ups over its lifetime - in the bottom of the drawers/pretty sure the handles are not original! The drawers are extremely heavy and I guess I thought it might have German/European country farmhouse rural origins due to its appearance - it's rather bulky and definitely not delicate carving!
Thanks

 

OH MY!!!! Gentle??? No need.
EXCELLENT PHOTOS!!!
~
Brad and others will be along to help.

 

I think the handles are upside down. The idea is that if the handle is going to flop, it should hit its metal back plate rather than the wood. (There's a specific name for that back plate, but darned if I can think what it is.) They look to me to be circa 1900 (easily wrong). Are there filled holes on the inside of the drawer face to show where other handles might have been attached?

It's a handsome piece.

 

But MOS, it looks like the handles "went with the curve of the piece" which might be why they were put on upside down????????

 

I think you are probably correct about this being Germanic in origin, though I would not rule it out as being English. I think probably late 19th or early 20th century. The handles are obviously not correct but don't look bad with this. The feet seem quite dainty for this piece and wonder if they aren't replacements.

 

Can you get a handle off and see what shape the faded patch is behind it? Thye don't worry me too much, but I'd like to know.

I think this a somewhat earlier than the late 19th. The carving is hand done, and so too, I think, are the dovetails. The feet are missing something, I'm not sure what. Close up please.

Gut feel is British regional piece made by a decent local craftsman. It's not chunky enough or overbearing enough to be German or even Dutch. And the configuration and lightness of shape is more typical of our stuff. Interesting that it's grape vines and leaves. That whole ebonised look was big here in the late 18th and ealy 19th.

 

The handles shouldn't be on there at all imo!!
No evidence of filled holes. My hunch is there may not have been any handles at all - keys..is there a precedence for that in more rustic European?

 

First photo shows that the handles were replaced. The original had a key hole.
Notice the two different size holes for screws. The black hold the current drawer pull. I think the blue were for the original pull under the lock.

 

Keys on their own would fit for earlier English provincial or country made.

 

The first image with the keyhole is an example of one drawer where handle has been removed...Any help? Ill upload close up photo of the feet asap...

 

Well spotted Thanks!!

 

Yes, well spotted! I think the black circled holes and the discoloration of the wood around the key hole are evidence that there was once a plate covering that area, maybe plain, maybe decorative, not hiding the keyhole, just tidying it up - an escutcheon (words just aren't coming today).

The blue circled holes very likely were for an original handle.

 

Is it possible this could be a black forest transition piece?

 

Any idea how i would identify this?

 

I think it dates from the mid to late 1800s. Perhaps yours is a "transition" piece due to the simplicity of it. If it is "black forest" - it could have been made on the cusp of another furniture style. The feet are very pretty too, even if they are replacements. I cannot see the feet in your photos well enough. Yours is a beautiful piece.

I noticed the small trunk which is similarly carved to your sideboard or dresser has antler horns for its feet. If yours had such, they'd surely have been knocked off long ago, glue didn't last very long in the olden days.

I searched: "black forest" side board furniture - on ebay, came up with a trunk which is ornate but simple, doesn't have any wooden "prong" type ornaments sticking out from it (like much of the black forest stuff) - here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-BLACK-FOREST-GREAT-CARVED-WOOD-TRUNK-/222379996222?hash=item33c6e1743e:g:17YAAOSwnHZYfQVb

 

My father thinks the feet are much later addition. I've added photo close up.
Also he thinks the top may not be original as looks like ply that has been painted.

 

I agree with your father, am doubtful those are the original feet. I cannot tell that the top is plywood, but will take your word for it, still in all a lovely piece and worth some money depending upon the location. Location seems to be everything these days, as shipping costs run high.

I definitely do think it started out as an authentic black forest carved dresser (or sideboard) and may be earlier than I'd previously thought. Best wishes to you to figure out the decade it was carved!

 

The feet are late 18th C English in style, but they went on for a while. I'm still with from where your mama got it for a fiver. Not quite sure why you think the top is ply, I'm not seeing that from the photos.

 

Ok...do the vines/leaves tie in with your English diagnosis or is this not typical?
The ply is my fathers opinion - I wasn't convinced - he's not always right He thought it might be ontop of the original surface ..