Primitive Cabinet? Need advice!

Hi, everyone, if you haven’t seen my other posts, I’m new here. I’m helping my grandparents to catalog their belongings and sell a few things as they prepare for the possibility of downsizing.

I’m clueless and uneducated in the realm of antiques and collectibles and was very excited to find this forum.

I’m hoping maybe you can help me get some direction here, as I am trying to figure out how best to price and sell these beautiful treasures. I want to do justice to my grandparents and make sure I am helping them get a fair return for their stuff.

This cupboard is an heirloom. My grandmother said it was used to separate the girls and boys sides of an upstairs bedroom where she grew up. She was born in the late 1930s, but doesn’t know much about where this cupboard came from or when it was made. I can take more pictures the next time I’m there if needed, but for now this is what I’ve got!

How would I price this? What is the best place to go about selling something like this? I also have some antique leather suitcases, Wallace heritage daphne China set, some old dolls, unfinished quilt tops, lace doilies, etc.

Any advice you can give me on how best to sell these types of things is much appreciated. Thank you so much!

 

Hi. I am not a furniture person, but it may be helpful for you to post photos of the drawer joints (especially the front) and the hinges. These things may help with the age. Of course, our furniture gurus may know instantly without these, but since you are interested in learning, these are things they discuss.

 

Looks like soft yellow or white pine cabinet with honest age to it.

 

The form is a "Jelly" cupboard. I'd guess late 19th-early 20th century.
Kind of a must back in the day when people canned jelly/food, utilitarian cupboard that were popular once upon a time. Not sure about value these days but I suspect it is low.

 

I like the green,but it does look like it was red at some point. Useful thing,but as James stated,not much of a market.The young would rather have Ikea.

 

That's a tough one. You'll have to find the right person to buy it. I'd ask a couple hundred, but I would take $50 for it here my area.

 

Definitely get pictures of the drawer corners inside and out that show how they are put together, and maybe closeups of the hardware to help date for sure, but early 20th century sounds about right.

Given all the online tutorials teaching people how to make things look like this, presented the right way you might make a little money and give it a home where it would be treasured.

 

Good idea. Painted shabby chic or whatever they call it nowadays.

 

As others said, a primitive pine jelly cupboard. Looks very homemade but also quite old. The paint is a plus even in this condition. Primitives still do quite well in certain parts of the country. Mainly rural Midwest with Ohio being the epicenter. Would not be surprised to see this priced in the $3-400.00 range at a show devoted to primitives. That said, as an individual seller, you would be very lucky to get half that. I image it would be a harder sell in other parts of the country.

 

If verybrad says it could be “quite old” you really, really want to post pictures of how the drawers are put together, and the underside of everything you can to get a more positive idea of age. I’m sooooo not an expert, but (please someone correct me if I’m wrong again!) hardware could have been added and/or replaced, and there’s a not insignificant difference in price point between early 1900’s and early-to-mid 1800’s.

 

What Brad said. That one is OLD! Remove all unnecessary stuff, photograph it against a plain background, and pray it finds a buyer who loves it. Don't do anything to the surface except a gentle clean. (To some of the experts of the Antiques Roadshow, anything else amounts to deliberate physical harm to the product.)

My parents had one in the dining room in the sixties...also very old. But theirs was lovingly taken to the restorer first.

How times change!

 

Not many clues as to age in the photos above, but I'm thinking maybe 3rd quarter of the 19th century. Not a primitives fan, but I like this one.

 

This is a country-built piece, I.E not by a cabinetmaker but more likely a farmer or carpenter as the construction appears to be nailed.
The cabinet door hardware, a cast iron? spring-loaded cabinet latch with a porcelain knob. These came in during the late victorian period, 1870s-1880s but were still in production in 1901.
Age is not usually a big factor in valuing antique furniture, form, condition & who built it matters far more. Age doesn't hurt, it just doesn't help value much whether built-in 1880 or 1900.
Once upon a time primitives were "hot" in the antique furniture world but as Brad noted, with few exceptions their value has lost ground.

 

I am with Brad and Conrad. I live in Missouri and that would sell very well as is. i would take it in a heart beat. I have very nice pieces of furniture mixed in with my primitives and they look great. probably $350-450 in my neck of the woods.

 

Yeah, that sounds about right for the east coast as well, not as much for this form as it was 10-15 years ago when it was probably double that figure.
HuntBoards & Pie Safes still sell well here and some for big bucks, particularly huntboards. Bucket benches do pretty well here too, I think pottery people buy them to display jugs.

 

It depends on how much stuff you have and where you are located, Garth's in Ohio specializes in country/primitive Americana

I'd be careful about letting a family heirloom go, once it's sold it is never coming back.

 

Oh, I agree. And it's lost, not just to you, but to future generations of the family.

Debora

 

I agree as well. I would try to buy this from her. I love it. I don’t have room in my current house, but we will be building a home in a few years and would definitely make room for it there.

I am in Nebraska. I joined a Nebraska antique buy sell trade on Facebook, so maybe I’ll try to sell some things there.

 

I was able to get a couple more photos today to share.

I really love this piece and would love to own it. I think they choose to hold onto it for a few more years, I will end up with it somehow.

I am wondering if maybe her dad, who was a farmer, may have built it.

I noticed today that there is a lock, and key hole. I didn’t see any indication of lock maker or anything else that would provide details.

 

Looks 20th century farmer built to me, so that would make sense. I’m sure you know this, but it’s all about the paint - stripped of paint this would be a giveaway piece.