Featured Pennsylvania Dutch chest

No problem, those panels are called "architectural chest/ panels", the lock & hinges appear to be original to the chest.

 

BTW, the "Pennsylvania Dutch" thingy is kind of a myth/ marketing type dealio. The vast majority of 18th century immigrants to PA were Germans and yes, a few Dutch, Swiss, etc but mostly Germans. Naturally, an entire industry has grown up around this "Pennsylvania Dutch" myth for marketing reasons.

 

I know some things are hurting the value of this. Does anyone have an idea as to what that may be? It is still sitting in my garage until I decide what do with it.

 

I think our gallery would first try to clean it using "Bees' Wax." It is magic for antique furniture.

 

I have bees wax coming thank you! The person that I got it from said it had been outside as they were cleaning an old hoarder house. The paint is flaking off so easily maybe since it was wet? How would I seal these edges? Thank you to all who are answering my questions!!! I am in western South Dakota and expertise is limited!

 

$100-$200 or less in it's present condition, it's old but condition matters in most cases.

Paint looks like it's peeling off in small sheets like vinyl wallpaper or something, are we sure it's paint? If paint it's weird, something went very wrong there, it does not appear to be sticking to the wood at all.
I hate to say it but in my view, this "paint" is not worth saving, i would remove it. If it is paint i would guess a 20th century paint product that didn't stick/embed in the wood which is kind of a blessing because it should come off fairly easily.

 

Yes, fairly common in 18th century chests, particularly in european chests but you see it in american chests as well, just not as often.

 

What you have here is a last quarter 18th century Architectural Dower chest in fairly good structural condition but the paint decoration is gone. The case is dovetailed, in looking at this pic the dovetails may have "wedges" (small wedges in center of dovetail), are they wedged can you tell?

 

Paint seems like it has white primer under neath, but only on the panel if I removed that I could reproduce the panel painting with the proper paint. Would it be milk paint, oil , acrylic? The top is staying the same as the mural is quite lovely. Just would like to know haw to clean up the colors!

 

No, isn't milk paint.

 

Thanks!

 

Looks like some of them may be

 

Yeah, kinda hard to tell, being left outside didn't do it any good, that's for sure.
In any event, if they are wedged, that is a germanic build technique used in the 18th century by some german cabinetmakers both here in the USA & Germany.
Wedged Dovetail

 

There are 2 ways these "architectural" chests were built. In some, the panels (often tombstone shaped like yours, sometimes square or rectangular) can be carved from a solid piece of wood or more often, another board was applied over the case front/sides itself (like yours).
Panels carved from solid wood
click to enlarge

https://northeastauctions.com/produ...dower-chest-probably-pennsylvania-dated-1782/

More often the panels were "applied" with another board over case front/sides like yours is
click to enlarge


https://www.metmuseum.org/art/colle...ance&ft=dower+chest&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=2

 

Thank you James for all the information! Knowing the value in its current state makes me feel better. The painting may not be original, but I do love it and it is still old. I will have to think on it some more before making a decision. Thank you again so much!

 

No problem, the real value today on these type chests rests primarily on their original paint decoration, it crosses over from furniture collecting into the "folk art" world & can get pricey in a hurry.
It's to bad yours has lost it's original decoration but, your chest is still in good structural condition & the paint decoration can be restored later. There are artists/painters today that specialize in doing this work.
GOOD LUCK! with your chest, it's a fairly rare survivor.

 

I don’t think you read the earlier discussion? I can’t see this being a last quarter 18th century Penn chest. The legs are totally wrong, and even if replaced they were never the bracket legs used on 18th cent Penn chests like you showed in your pics. Plus each of the sides is made from two butted boards, not single. If American must be mid or late 19th century, or else (and I think more likely) imported from Europe since lock is strange for America. (And what’s up with the three layer board - looks like early plywood - seen from the back)

 

I took a picture from the top of that 3 board section. Not sure of why it is done that way?

 

Good pic. That shows this board isn’t plywood, but a piece of reused old wood cut down.

So based on that, I’ll say it started as a mid to late 19th (because each side is two butted boards) dovetail chest. Then later addition of panel frames and paint to look basically like the second chest James showed. But the added frames make the lid fit strange since they butt into the lid overhang instead of being overlapped. And of course the added legs aren’t right either.

You can either keep it as is, as a decorative piece made from an older chest. Or do a lot of work to remove paint and panel frame to go back to a plain wood chest. Frankly I’d leave it as is because removing paint is a lot of work and it has a certain charm as is, even if not an authentic antique piece.

 

No one said it's a Pennsylvania chest, it could be, it could be european.
The feet (there are no legs on this piece) as well as the paint decoration are not original to this piece so can't be used to determine date.
I doubt this piece had feet originally, it most likely sat directly on the floor like this

https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2961B/lots/63

Or it could have had "shoe" feet like this

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/ite...lvania-architectural-dower-chest#&gid=1&pid=1