Featured Age of this Sea Chest (?)

I think it's a sea chest anyways..

1840s - is my guess..
Pretty sure the bottom pieces are not as old as the trunk..

Anyone have an idea?

 

Could be a sea chest but one from period you mention would always have Becketts for handles on ends, and yours never had them. Might also be a carpenter's chest but lacks saw rack and other things those usually had. Might be a steamer trunk? The steel handles on ends are probably original and someone here may know when that handle design first showed up in Sears catalogs, maybe early 20th? Blanket chest? J.J. Dooley might be maker?

 

My first thought was carpenter's chest as well.....................with the guts removed?

 

Make this one more for carpenter's took chest, gutted.

 

Hi,
I concur with Mansons.
greg

 

Hmm.
I think a few of the nails date it earlier than early 1900's

Looking at carpenter's chests I think you're right!
What a terrible thing to have to lug around if you had a job that needed it!

 

There are a couple of facts that can make nails unreliable for dating purposes. Even today, unused nails aren't usually discarded unless they are crumbling from rust. Their shelf-life, if kept somewhat dry, can be many, many decades. Also in the past at least, nails salvaged from old wood that were still reasonably straight were often re-used.

 

I found a J.J. Donley that arrived by steamer in 1858,maybe the chest is older than we thought ?http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9906E2D61131EE34BC4A52DFB7678383649FDE

 

The script, nails, and overall look argue for a mid-nineteenth century date.

 

Mid 19th century sounds and looks right to me.

 

I have a tool chest in my basement made very much the same way. It's later though, or at least I hope it is; my late grandfather painted it before I was born!

 

How old are you Ruth? You don't happen to have a box that was stolen from me some years ago stashed up there in Connecticut, do you?

 

I'm 51, and I wish! On the other hand, if I did it would be stashed in a nice dark corner.

 

Oh well, i am afraid that box is gone for good, to bad.

 

In my opinion that is a workshop tool box, well used, probably early 20th C, as I see nothing that looks 19th. C.

 

Yeah, i am goin with afantiques on this one. I don't think it matters much value wise if it is 19th century though.

 

There seems to be a tendency to equate value with age these days, that's not really how it works. Trust me when i say they made junk in the 17th century just like we do today & it sells for chump change in today's market place

 

Oh man! were they ever! Nails once upon a time in america were so valuable that people when moving to a new location would burn down their house & sift through the ashes just to recover the nails!

http://www.gregorylefever.com/pdfs/Early Nails 2.pdf

 

Don't take offense personally please but here's an intentionally sarcastic comment just to get my point across better.

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Ok fine, I guess someone made the box then let it sit for 50 years until the steel Sears Roebuck ( or whomever) handles became available, then finished it and put it to use or sold it.

 

Don't rely on nails alone to date something. I have jar after jar of old hand-forged nails. I got a bunch of them from a guy who used them to "age" furniture he cobbled together.