Featured Marble Top Dresser How Old? Maker?

Hey everyone!

I just joined the community here and I am not very experienced with antiques. I came in posession of this old dresser(?) with marble tops that I'm thinking of selling. The person I got it from said it had been in his family from Virginia for years. It looks like maybe a mirror used to be attached to it.

I'm thinking about selling it so I wanted to know if anyone could help answer/estimate a few question: How old is it? How much could I sell it for? And I included a picture of what I was told is the stamp of the maker. Does anyone recognize it?

Thanks for your help! I can provide any more pictures as needed

 

looks like a cherry stained pine wood....nice hardware.!
how's about a look inside......drawers.....dovetails....nails ..screws...

 

Komokwa your new avatar thew me - But it looks like a 70's or 80's piece, My wife has a coffee table with pretty much the same type of marble slab that is newer to the date.

 

Oh awesome! Any kind of estimate on how much I could sell for?

 

I can't confirm or deny that Ray ....but I see what you mean.
The hardware I'm unfamiliar with....looks older though....

Sorry bout the avatar.....I'm in flux !

 

Hey Will, we don't usually value items here , but on occasion a member will suggest ....this or that !
Wait till the morning...when more folks chime in to see if anyone throws out a number...!
The wisdom here is that brown furniture is not hot right now !

 

This is a late Renaissance revival piece circa 1880. I think probably walnut but hard to tell from this pic. The back is pine. The missing mirror hurts this more than it will most dressers due to the variable heights of the top. It is readily recognizable that something is missing. Value is dependent on where and how sold. Here in semi-rural Midwest, I would expect this to sell for under $100.00 at auction and probably around $200.00 or so at retail. You might do better (or worse) in other locations.

 

The back being pine always makes me question the wood used for the main body....without at least seeing the inside...or drawers...

 

The backs and drawers were made of cheaper wood as it wasn't seen. The fronts and sides would be of better quality woods.

I agree with Brad.
Late 1800s. I would have said walnut as well.

 

Brad......I'm in Massachusetts. That style is called Princess around here.

Is it elsewhere also?

I have one myself with a swing mirror, but without the marble tops.

And a beautiful bed to match.......

What a shame the mirror is missing on William's. It's a beautiful piece.

 

Yes, it's beautiful. Around here a princess dresser would have no center portion, just drawers on each side and room to stand between them. This is a deep-well dresser. The marble looks intact and the wood is, in fact, walnut with raised burl panels. Agree with the dates; I'd say 1865-85 and probably made in the old U.S. midwest, i.e. Ohio, Michigan, or Illinois.

Brad's right, the lack of a mirror will have a devastating effect on the worth of the piece. You'd get, maybe $100 for it as is. So sad, because this piece with it's mirror would have sold for $2000 even 10 years ago, at least in Missouri.

 

Not familiar with the term princess dresser. A search of the term antique princess dresser brings up lower than usual dressers with elongated mirrors. They do not have the different height portions to the top. There are also dressing vanities which have the elongated mirror and two pedestals on either side. Both are several decades later than the piece in question.

Princess dresser.....


Dressing vanity.....


This is how the OP's dresser should look....


As you can see, the mirror was an important part of the statement the piece makes. Without it, it is lacking quite a bit. They were parts of elaborate matching sets. Here is a partial set......

 

1880 is spot on. Just got one at an estate sale here in Des Moines, IA. With mirror in good shape it cost me $250.00. Brown furniture just isn't coming back real well yet.

 

We have a more Eastlake oak one with marble and mirror sitting in our shop at the reduced price of $135.00 and still no takers.

 

I only paid the price because it matches one I already have and we are keeping it. Have a couple similar, and more Eastlake, that I can't seem to give away at $175.00.

 

That photo of the beautiful Ren Rev set looks like it was taken at Bradford's in Liberty, MO. RIP.

Anyway, this is what I've always heard is a "pure" princess dresser. Not that it's worth arguing about:

 

Interesting term "Princess Mirror". I'm in the west and have never heard it before either.

However, with a full vanity dresser as Ghopper shows in the last post, can certainly see how the term princess relates.

 

I'm in the south east and have never heard princess dresser.
I wouldn't call it that, you would be shutting out have your demographics..

Without the mirror it'd sell $80 to maybe $100
With it.. maybe $250-300.. MAYBE.

If you can find some sort of mirror to cradle in the center or a tall vase with an arrangement to fan out to help fill the gap area.
Or do both. The flower arrangement will help give it the decorative filler it is supposed to naturally have and help detract the eye from its shortcomings.
You'd probably stand a better chance selling it quickly, even if you're just staging it for a photo.

 

You don't have to call it that since the dresser in question is a deep well dresser, not a princess.

Anyway, Ren Rev mirrors do come up by themselves from time to time. IMO far better to graft a period mirror with with a walnut surround on to this old beauty.