Description
This item eludes me. I dont know if its a vanity or dresser or "hope chest" I'm kinda new to all this but have been reading online to determine if I should have it appraised or not. Heres what I've found out.
I have noted the screw design and belive it is almost identical to the design of circa 1850 as well as observed what appear to be hand made nails on the back of the dresser.
I next began checking about woodworking techniques of the period. I beleive this to be either hand sawn or frame sawn based on most of the wood though the back gave me pause because it looks like a circular saw style cut. The joints are varied and confusing.
This is a picture of the insides, I heard it was important to show.
Almost forgot, the finish on
Almost forgot, the finish on the underside of the center jewlrey type lid looks origional.
Also there was a matching mirror to thie piece at one point I think because there is a hole 1in wide drilled at the back for what I can only assume was a mirror.
Your piece makes a very good
Your piece makes a very good test case for antique furniture identification and dating.
On the back one finds semi circular saw marks, which indicates the use of a large circular saw to cut the lumber. Such marks indicates a date of after 1850.
The pointed screw first appeared circa 1849, and because it was such a superior product it was adopted almost immediately .
The nails I can't make out from the image, but are most certainly " Cut Nails" and not hand wrought . Cut nail machines were in operation before 1820, the common round head nail appears by the 1890's.
The drawer pulls on this piece are the "Moustache" type so named after their shape, they appear in the 1870's.
The drawer construction uses the "Knapp Joint". Charles Knapp patented the machine that made the joint in 1867. He sold the patent to a group of investors who produced the machinery and put it into production in a Mass. furniture factory on 1870. The machine that cut these joints was difficult to maintain and was more difficiult to use than the machine cut dovetail machines and pretty much vanished from use by about 1880.
So you can see even without getting into furniture styles one can accurately determine a date of production once you put all this together. Which in the case of this piece the date of production is about 1875. Value wise, as is about $450.00
LovejoyÂ
Thank you so much for your
Re: Unknown Dresser / Vanity
It looks like a wash stand, where a large pitcher and bowl were kept, to serve as a place to wash face,etc, befor plumbing as we know it. Nice.