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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;sanich, post: 371331, member: 7770&quot;]My aim here is to try and investigate with you the date and function of an intriguing piece of old &quot;junk&quot; I bought at auction recently. This (below) was listed as a believed 16th century top gallery of a dresser with believed very old fire damage and exposed worm tracery. The previous owner had housed it in a holiday let business in Lostwithiel, Cornwall as a curio, and he bought it at a local auction. The dresser is small, measurements provided in the photo below. The thing is - it just doesn&#039;t agree with the literature as a 16th century dresser. Back then dressers were huge affairs in the great halls of nobles. So what is this thing? The auctioneer told me he thought it was a 16th C farmer&#039;s best effort with the tools he had. I just don&#039;t buy it. Please help me pin this down folks! [ATTACH=full]127557[/ATTACH] </p><p>The tool marks on the timber are interesting. I attach a photo of the rear </p><p>[ATTACH=full]127558[/ATTACH] </p><p>And, it is worth mentioning that all the timber surfaces bear tool marks. [ATTACH=full]127559[/ATTACH]&nbsp; </p><p>The ornaments on the piece have a striking gothic appearance.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127560[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I note the fire damage (now part cleaned due to necessity) and offer a hypothesis that this piece was salvaged after a fire because it was valuable, and the fire damage is not likely to have occurred later, as in the latter event it would have rendered the piece worthless and it would not have survived.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, the fire damage would indicate the piece has suffered high temperature, effectively killing live woodworm, and the charcoal skin being biologically inert appears to have preserved this piece from further beetle larvae attack. </p><p><br /></p><p>Any words would be gratefully received. I can of course provide additional photographs.</p><p><br /></p><p>Many Thanks for reading.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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