Shelf what is it?

36 inches in width, 8 1/2 inches length.

 

You mean the wood?

 

The wood and the holes possibly for candles?

 

Votives I'd guess.
May be oak but I first thought pine.
Is it hard? Check the back to test.
Brad and others will be by to help.

 

I would think the holes are where the coat hooks attached it to the wall

 

He means the circular depressions.

 

Seems to be made from 2 different types of wood. The piece with the nice tight grain and the shallow holes sure looks like mahogany but the bigger piece with the heavy grain pattern, I have no idea

 

Looks like someone took the edges of a table and made a shelf ?

 

Or a dresser.
I have made many similar things.

 

It is walnut. I also think it was made from old furniture parts. The circles are probably just decoration and that board with them should be placed flat against the wall with the other shelf on top.

 

Looks like walnut to me. The turnings are just decoration.

 

It also looks like it had brackets to hold it to the wall. You can see the shape of them as lighter lines on the underside. They were probably wood.

 

The person I got it from said it was part of a piano