Featured Help dating Pennsylvania Dutch/Norwiegan painted blanket chest

Hi everyone,
This just came across my plate. My sister just purchased this and wondered if it was old or new. I don't have many photos yet... it seems all the surfaces are painted. I think the 2 cross bars on the inside of the lid are unusual. She says it has ball (bun?) feet. It apparently doesn't have a lock. My gut feeling is that it isn't modern/new...

So, she apparently can't see the joints at the corners as they are painted.
Any suggestions as to how old and whether it is Pennsylvania style/Norwegian style or any other info would be appreciated. It does have a Rosemaling look...

Cheerio,
Leslie

 

Something about that makes me think it may be a recent decorative import from Asia. I'll be interested in what others think.

Debora

 

I don't see typical Penn Dutch styling on this chest.

 

Hi Bakersgma,
I'm leaning toward Norwiegan STYLE - but age is another story!

 

the hardware seems loose and shows red paint.....so I'm thinking newer ...or restored..

 

It’s absolutely not Pennsylvania Dutch. Wrong decoration, wrong construction, wrong age. And yes, looks pretty new paint, but hard to say when and where in 20th C painted and or made because pics are really bad. Not only dark, but where are the only pics that matter - underneath, the back, the inside.

 

Just doesn't look right for a very old piece. The black interior and the triangular corner bracing inside are common in newer pieces.

 

I agree!

 

It does look like it is made to be decorative. Not a bad thing, as long as your sister likes it, @Northern Lights Lodge .

 

Can't that be later restauration?

That i can't tell, sorry. But ...

I'm 100% sure i see a 100%* clear and commonly well known indicator (repeatable) that it's at least 150 years old.
I am quite sure your guts were right.


* Something old can always be faked old. I can never be 100% sure on one sign from photos. But this indicator is commonly not done (forgotten) when faking, so for now i'm far sure enough to say/date this.

 

A pretty box, it is Bavarian or Austrian, eastern Alpine folk art.
Probably 1970s, around that time I saw a lot of these 'antiqued' hand made boxes and chests in interior decorator shops in Germany. (My parents went there just about every weekend, I often went with them.)
You can recognize 'antiqueing' by the dark patchy finish that doesn't follow natural grime patterns.

My parents bought one in South Tyrole in the 60s, not antiqued, the antiqueing fashion hadn't started yet.
South Tyrole is a culturally Austrian region in the north of Italy.

Google "Bauernmalerei Truhe", and you'll see more.

 

Norwegian 'rosemaling' is stronger in both the brush strokes and the colour combinations. Where eastern Alpine painting is gentle, almost loving, rosemaling keeps you on your toes, so to speak.

 

I did. Looked at a lot, and especially to the indicator(s) i see on this one.

And almost everywhere i looked i see the modern indicators, and not the old.
I've found a little few WITH that indicator(s), and those indeed were the more expensive ones for sale at antiquers as real antique.

So now i'm even more confirmed and sure this one from @Northern Lights Lodge is really antique. As i said at least about 150 years, and NOT a later modern reproduction.

 

Good point, I hadn't thought of that. I just checked 1970s German and Austrian chests, the ones I saw didn't have that, so this chest could be more recent.
It is lovely though.

 

Pretty, but neither old or new made to fake anyone out. I've seen lots of similar pieces made in Asia and sold here in expensive furniture stores. I see zero "old" on this chest. Nothing. The wood is wrong, the hardware is wrong, the paint is wrong, and the 'antiquing' is wrong too. It's a nice chest, just not old.

 

Well, it's old enough to have slotted, oval flat-head screws in the pictured hinge...not a deciding indicator, but...
Also, I believe if that hinge were completely stripped of paint, etc, there would be the word Stanley stamped on it; it's a common fairly modern pattern. The size would be in inches and even fractions (2", or 2 1/2"...).

 

It also has those pneumatic soft-close whatsits next to the hinges. Those are generally added in a factory rather than aftermarket.

 

They're struts, I think...at least the longer ones in automotive use.