This was recently purchased at an estate sale, provenance unknown.
Type of wood(s) unknown.
Entire piece appears to have been hand made, with widely spaced dovetails, and not perfectly matched.
There are multiple damaged places (all three of the lower drawers are missing wood in the upper right corner--one has been poorly repaired at some point). It is possible that some rabbets for drawer bottoms have been replaced. There are obvious repairs (drawer above, as mentioned, plug in top, some wood supports added, etc.) some done better than others.
Some dovetails are very worn, others still fit well, as in the picture included.
The bottom of the piece has a fairly large piece missing, irregular in shape, about 2.5 inches by about 4.5 inches. Possibly from impact, or maybe old wood rot? Photo not included.
Both sides of the piece have significant cracks.
Some of the drawers have dried globs of wood glue inside them, as if glue had dropped on them during a repair process.
The chest does not have wood between each drawer; it is completely open on the inside when looking at it without the drawers inserted.
All drawer pulls appear to be original, made from brass, including the nuts on the backs of the drawer fronts. The tooled ovals are simply plates that the screws go through, as some of them wiggle a bit independently of the pull itself.
There is no identifying writing or imprint that we can find.
From what we have seen online, this piece may be over 200 years old, with similar items stated to have been made between 1790 and 1810.
I'd like to know if there are any expert furniture restorers within a half-day's drive of Las Cruces, New Mexico, should we decide to go that route.
Thanks for any input.
