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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Jeff Drum, post: 1299345, member: 6444&quot;]I agree 2nd half of 19th century. You could pin the date by finding when the house was built that these were originally in - these are usually made for the house by the carpenter building the house and are often built in. Not earlier than mid 19th (1850 or so with wire nails) since hardware doesn&#039;t support that. Also think this is the bottom half of a full heigth piece. Why the bottom? - see the back left triangle added where it was cut off wrong and patched. Also looks like the bottom we see here was made shorter than it started out - see how the top and bottom rails of the doors are too narrow compared to the sides (and pegs are not centered). I would guess the shelves may have been scalloped when it was rebuilt too, and not original shape - or maybe taken from the top piece and added when it was cut away.</p><p><br /></p><p>Looks like original red paint still on the inside, or is that just because of the pics? It is a shame that it is cut down and outside stripped of paint. And also a shame that the full size one isn&#039;t the one that survived. One of these in original paint would have value (much more than double this one), even if from the 2nd half of the 19th century. That would also answer all questions about how this one was rebuilt and where the parts were taken from. But that is the way it often goes.</p><p><br /></p><p>So a typical piece of real antique furniture, that was well used and modified over time as needed. Back when it was worth taking the time to keep a piece of furniture useful, rather than junking it and replacing with a new shelf system from Ikea.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s a somewhat similar child&#039;s Windsor highchair from the same time period (mid 19th century or a bit later) that has gone through similar history of being stripped and worked and reworked to keep it functional. I have a much better highchair in original paint, and should just throw this one back in the dumpster it came from. But I keep it on my woodpile (where I keep repair parts plus a couple junk pieces I can&#039;t quite get rid of) because of the fact that some previous owner (depression era?) took the time to repair this to keep using it, adding the whole left side of the arm plus four replacement spindles. I like the history, even if no one else could appreciate it in its current state:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]218902[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]218903[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]218904[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]218905[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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