Tough One: Childs Doll Dresser from 1700s?

Hi Folks...

I pretty much know nothing about these things but I thought this was a pretty interesting thing I scoped out while my wife was browsing other things. Apparently the store we were looking around at didnt know much but felt they could priced this at $250. Any thoughts on it?

 

Welcome to our forum!!

To make even a SWAG, the folks here will need to see the back & bottom of the piece as well as the construction of the drawers.

Peggy

 

I haven't handled any of this stuff for over a decade, and of course there is little detail to assist in an evaluation, but my first "gut" instinct is Spain/Portugal anywhere from 1870 to 1930. I don't think it is anywhere near as old as claimed..........but that is gut with no detail so.......................

 

First impression is that it is a (kind of) fake.
The paint looks like it has been scuffed to look old.

 

Ok maybe ill try and get some more pictures of it back and underside I guess! Thanks for the quick reply folks!

 

Thanks...yeah I have no idea..but looking and handling it and pulling out the drawers it does "seem" very old but no clue. The place I checked it out at has a pretty good reputation but right you never know. Ill try and get more pictures to help identify if any.

 

at best, it doesn't look old enough, well made enough, or in the condition that they would like you to think it is.

Plus...I don't like the sign.

 

Oh please. No 18th C craftsman or even country carpenter would have made anything as clunky or badly done as that. No dolls house furniture would be that big and miniature chests of drawers weren't actually meant for dolls.

$250 is absurd. I'm with it being a relatively recent thing, by which I mean 20th C. It'd be interesting to test that paint.

 

ha funny just to clarify it isnt for a doll house..it is ( well at least what they say) it is for dolls clothing..which if that were true it seems to be about the right size. Otherwise yep I have no idea of when it was constructed..in person it does look much older than 20th century though. what do I know lol

 

This is modern Indonesian. Have seen many of these over the years and used to carry a line of such stuff in my furniture store in the 90s. When you see stuff like this being misrepresented, it has to bring in to question all the other items in the store.

 

Brad, agreed.

Mike, dolls clothing wasn't stored like that. Much of it could not even be removed!

 

I think its a jewelry box made in the 60s-70s. These were trendy for a while,mostly out of Italy. I had one that looked like a miniature secretary .

 

Johnny,

The ones out of Italy in the 60s and 70s were made better than this and of thinner stock. These are of so-called plantation mahogany and of pretty poor quality. You can see how the drawers fit poorly in this. Those rusted iron ring pulls are also a telling feature.

 

The Italian ones I've seen were usually rather nicely gilded and a bit baroque.

 

agreed..this may be a part of a consignment part of the store so maybe they aren't aware..in either case you guys are a great help! Ill move on from this one lol

 

I was suspicious of this one from the moment I saw the photo. However, being that I know almost nothing about furniture, I decided to remain neutral. I was confident that Brad would come along & know for sure.

Glad everyone was able to help you out.

Peggy

 

After all the comments here....& you're making excuses for them.....after noticing that honkin big sign.......I wouldn't !

 

There's no way that's legit; the wear patterns are all wrong, for starters. Any dealer who handles painted items would have known it was off. If it were $20 and I liked it, I'd buy it; any more than that probably not.