Featured Antique Commode/Chest Information

Hello everyone, I am delighted that I found this forum! I was given a dresser/ chest yesterday and it appears to me to be very old. It is missing a drawer, which is very disappointing to me, but I couldn't let the owner burn it (which is where it was heading), so I took it home. I am now deciding what to do with it - is it worth the cost to try to restore it? I am keeping it for myself either way. The biggest issue of course is the missing drawer. I am looking for any information you may have based on the pictures here. I have more pictures and can provide more information if necessary. Thanks for any of your great knowledge!

 

If you look on Pinterest, there are plenty of images of dressers with missing drawers that people have repurposed. Some have used the empty drawer space for baskets, or laid wooden slates over the gap in the drawer's floor. That may be the best route here.

 

Welcome Barbara. Furniture people who generously help with identification will be along. I congratulate you on saving this whatever the outcome. Barn Owl had a good point about working around the empty opening.

 

Thank you for your response. I repurpose furniture all the time, and may wind up doing just that, but I feel like this is something special. I am interested in finding out some history on the piece before I decide what to do. Any tips on identification would be appreciated. The farm where it was found is several hundred years old and there have been many generations of the same family living there. I appreciate your help!

 

the hardware looks like it's from the 60's.....late 50's......IMHO..

 

WELCOME Barbara !!! ... Joy.

 

Welcome Barbara. I applaud your intervention in keeping this piece away from the burn pile!

I'm inclined to go with a mid-20th century date on this one, as Komo alluded to above. Somewhere around 1950, give or take a decade. I would do the best you can with cosmetic fixes, but sadly this handsome piece is not worth a lot in today's depressed market, so any effort beyond that will purely be a labor of love.

Looking forward to seeing your next rescue effort!

 

Hi,
If you are talented like my other halfs uncle. He had a missing drawer and just made another one. He did not have the inlays so he painted them. Made the bottom drawer the painted one and no one ever noticed.
greg

 

I am going to disagree here, this looks to me like an American maple Hepplewhite 4 graduated drawers chest of drawers with flared french feet.
The chippendale pulls look replaced and it looks like witness marks for federal period (1790-1830 ish) bail pulls. Secondary looks like poplar.
Where are you, where did you get the chest?

 

bout time you weighed in.....

 

LOL, OK, i see my post again but no text from Barbara!

 

I think u freaked her out !!!!!

 

Yeah! It's possible! I been having bad luck over here recently, a guy yesterday banned himself for life or somesuch!

 

Hello James, thanks for your feedback. This is what I was thinking as well, and the reason I turned to this forum for expert advice. The piece came off an old farm here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The chest has been in the family for at least three generations that we know of, but the farm goes back much further in the family. The drawers look hand hewn to me and there are square nails in the back boards. The dovetails are irregular and are on both the front and backs of the drawers and certainly appear to be hand chiseled. The drawer bottoms are very thick (maybe close to a full cm), and are beveled or carved at the ends to fit into the drawer channels. The veneer on the bottom front is very thick as well (the legs and skirt are the only places where there is veneer). The drawers are a very fine grain and the stripes and dark corners are inlaid wood fully surrounded with cock beading. The hardware is cast brass and I am seeing imperfections which leads me to believe they are early, but could have been an early replacement? There are locks on all the drawers. I am uploading a few more detailed pictures here. Please let me know what you think, I am very interested in your comments, as I was thinking 18th century as well. Thank you!

 

Thanks for the reply! Thought Komo ran you off!
I don't think those chippendale pulls are original. I see witness marks on drawer fronts of other pulls which makes sense as it's clearly a Hepplewhite chest.
More likely 1st half 19th century not 18th
Drawer construction is typical for that period as well.
Drawer fronts look like Birch with line & fan inlays which were popular in the federal period. The cockbeaded drawers are a nice feature and indicates a professional cabinetmaker in the city, not a country piece because of that and the inlay

Here is a southern walnut Hepplewhite chest from east Tenn with similar inlay

 

Haha, nope I don't scare easily! I am having problems figuring out the photo upload thing so sorry for the multiple pictures! Thank you, that looks really close! Yes I see now what you mean about the witness marks on the drawers - hadn't noticed that before. Do you think it is possible for me to find someone who could reproduce the missing drawer? Would you consider this a valuable piece, worthy of spending money to restore? I so love old furniture and would love to be able to make it look complete to use in my home. Thank you again for your help!

 

Good one.....

 

Well, it's American so you got THAT goin for you value wise and, it's more valuable than say a similar example English Hepplewhite chest but, restoration can get pricey in a hurry.
If you like the piece and the plan is to keep it then i would say restore it. You can buy american Hepplewhite chests for as little as a few hundred to some serious money, the example i posted sold at auction for 19k but, it is an outstanding example in very fine condition with original everything including pulls.
Your chest restored i would guess in the 1-3k range at auction, maybe a bit more in a retail setting, depending on quality of restoration. You will NOT make money on a restore though, that's for sure.