Featured Another Chest - Age, Style?

Okay, here's another chest at a local resale store. Georgian? Chippendale? 19th century? English? Mahogany? Walnut? The locks say "secure lever" if that helps. Thanks

 

Guesses English because of oak secondary on drawers so Georgian, here would be late chippendale.
George III is late 18th - early 19th if period. 1770-1820 or so
The pulls are called swan neck in GB & rosettes over here.

 

The back looks a little rough, how about the feet, original?
Drawer bottoms look somewhat rebuilt as well.

 

I looked at it and went "mahogany drawer fronts, oak sides. Not American. Original lock mechanisms. Back? Older than DIRT." And I definitely defer to James on age and origin. That said if you need a chest that size it's definitely worth grabbing.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure if the feet are original - didn't get photos of the underside. I don't need a chest, I'm just trying to learn more about furniture from before the early 20th Century. In particular, the various styles, and what sets apart the run-of-the-mill stuff you can find at auctions for the price of a decent meal, and what's more collectible. If anyone can recommend any good books, or YouTube series, I'd appreciate it.

 

It all depends.
Nationality for one thing, most (not all) furniture collectors collect from their home country.
Styles, there are different strokes for different folks, EA, colonial, federal, victorian, mission & Shaker are the main collectible styles here.
Within each of those styles there is good, better, best, masterpiece to quote Sack.
There are plenty of books, blogs, museum research centers, etc to learn the particulars of each style.
Nothing is more important than the value of a trained eye, one is almost forced to choose a specific style & focus there if you want to separate the wheat from the chaff.

 

If you notice, that pilgrim chest yesterday & the Crosman chest are EXACTLY the same form as this George III chest above, 2 over 3 chest of drawers.
Yet, all 3 chests are very different as well.
It can be very confusing.

 

I was reading a book on Antique furniture, and it appears to be a book is oriented toward a better understanding of traditional Joinery and cabinet making production A book by V.J taylor. In the book it states that prior to 1820 the veener was cut in much thicker slices of no less than 5mm. Due to using a handsaw as in picture. The cabinet maker could plane the veneer thinner using a scrub and toothing planes as desired but the book suggests that veener that is greater than 3mm thick dates from 1600 to 1830. The veneer on the Chest does look quite thick. At first glance i would have thought early victorian.

 

Swung by the shop again today and snapped a couple of shots of the feet from underside. The first photo is left front and second is left rear. The rear has a piece broken off, which is in one of the drawers. Do these help answer any questions?

 

Here's the thing, photos do not do well with furniture, the camera is notorious for missing details that are easily seen in person.
Pieces snapped off and located in a drawer are called a "project" piece, most people are not into that sort of thing when shopping for furniture.
They want something they can place "as is" not mess around with repairing, refinishing, etc.

 

Not to me, I'm no expert, but those cobwebs are older than I am.

 

It would be great if there any youtube series on furniture.

 

I've enjoyed some episodes of Salvage Hunters on YouTube. It's a British show that follows vintage/antiques dealer Drew Pritchard around the UK to buy pieces for his shop. It's a fun show, very similar to American Pickers, and I've learned a few things from it, but it 's more entertainment than educational.

 

I am not sure what the goal is here, buying for personal use? buying to sell? buying to collect?

 

Well, if it drops to a more reasonable price, it could work for a guest bedroom, or as a possible flip candidate. It's currently $625 but it drops to $312 next month and $156 in November.

 

I would wait, $625. is high for a project piece, even if period.

 

I agree, way too high. I can always grab a georgian chest or certainly an ealry victorian one for $70. Mind you I am in europe. For half that kind of money $625 I would be looking at a Georgian era Tall boy or a Scotch chest. I got my late georgian/early victorian chest of drawers for $30 (+tax). I would happily sell it to you, most anyone but not everyone for $75. I might hold it and offload it for $150 and look to get something better.

 

Yes, I have watched many episode of Drew and his adventures. Not much in way of learning and the prices are always vastly exaggerated. I once went through his entire inventory in his shops and websites and found 40% of the stuff he bought over the years of his tv series he has not sold. He actually pays way too much for some stuff, but it is fun to watch when bored.

 

Im not even considering it at $625, and probably not $312, but I’d definitely pay $156.

And yes, the profit margin on Drew’s purchases are way too low to me. It seems like he buys and renovates pieces more for show content than to sell for a profit. I remember one episode where they bought an old barber chair and did a total renovation on it including the leather upholstery and then sold it for something like $200 over cost.

 

I've watched some of those shows too. Always wondered; he probably makes more off the Youtube adverts than the merch.