Berkey & Gay Chest of Drawers

Was wondering if someone could shed any light on this Berkey & Gay piece. From what I've found about Berkey & Gay logos, the piece appears to have been made between roughly 1905 and 1920. Don't know what sort of collection it might have belonged to

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Would this qualify as a highboy? Or too tall even for that?

 

It almost looks institutional. Maybe for a ship or the like. Love all the storage.

 

Odd that it doesn't have feet.

Debora

 

It does seem an odd piece to me. It's different from other Berkey & Gay furniture I've seen in searching online. It has a functional plainness about it. Interesting point about no feet.

 

I took the liberty of reposting your photographs as Full Image rather than Thumbnail so they're easier for everyone to see. You'll want to remember to do that in the future. (And not to worry... All new members do the same thing in their first post.)

Debora

 

What does the top look like inside ? I keep trying to think what it might be used for.Hats come to mind,if theres no sign it might have been fitted differently at one point.

 

@Ralbrig, there are a number of previous threads on the forum about Berkey & Gay furniture. You can find them with a search. They may have information that's helpful to you.

Debora

 

Agree that this doesn't look like any other Berkey and Gay piece I have ever seen. I can only think this must be a store or office fixture of some type.

 

This is an image of the inside of the top (thanks @Debora for the tip about posting the full image).



Does seem to have a sort of institutional furniture look about it. Wondering about those slides. Hanging files?
I had searched the forums before posting without finding anything of relevance.

 

Here's what an antique hanging file would look like.

https://www.harpgallery.com/shop/item33399.html

Debora

 

@Debora, thanks for the photo and the link. That made me take a closer look. Those sliding wooden rails have a groove running along the inside. The spacing is approximately 14" rail to rail from inside the groove, so use as a file hanger isn't out of the question. A mechanism on the outside of the top doors is missing (just visible in the frontal photo I uploaded) and I'm thinking that maybe it accommodated a pad lock. If it was used for hanging files, I'm now wondering if there is something missing that was used to help pull the rails out (unless just pulling on a folder was sufficient to do that).

 

Would/could you take a photograph with the sliding bars out so we have a better idea of construction? And, yes, I see the missing piece which I would assume original given the asymmetrical knob.

Debora

 

When i went to take additional photos of the sliding bars (rails) I found that I couldn't move them very far out of the cabinet, so I took a more careful look. It was possible to slightly tilt the rail and I saw that embedded in the stationary wood piece below the rail was a spring loaded pin. The rail normally slides over it keeping it depressed, but I think at some point in the rail's travel the pin acts as a limit (pops up). Since the travel length of the rails is currently too restricted, I assume that there is a piece (or pieces) missing that would have kept the pin depressed longer. Just looking at the rails, there must have been something attached to them in some manner.

Anyway, attached are additional photos. (Please note that the colors are off due to the flashlight I used for additional lighting.)

 

How odd. Maybe it was a thin sliding drawer. Something obviously was meant to slide in there.Anything hanging wouldnt get very far. Curiouser and curioser.