Posted 9 years ago
kbow
(18 items)
I need help in identifying this Lane chest/box. It was made 10/6/1916 as i found from the serial number. It has burl wood on the corners and a divider about 1/3rd of the way through the chest where one side opens up like a blanket chest and the other side is where the framing for the drawers are. It has a stripe with brass inlay that goes up over the lid/top. It has a ton of patent numbers listed on the inside of the lid and from what i understand Lane was only in their fourth year of business when this was built. It has dovetail drawers. Could this be a prototype? I cannot find anything remotely similar. It also has the end with the drawers lid is rounded. Any information would be very helpful! Also don't know if it makes any difference or not but it was covered in layer upon layer of ugly gray and green paint but did still have the original handles on each of the drawers which are sort of a half sphere incased by a brass piece the shape of a rainbow/half circle. The handles are very heavy. Thank you in advance.
Wow! Beautiful piece, it has such an art deco look, and the condition seems pristine :-)
Thanks! Just got finished restoring it. I purchased it thinking it was from the 20s or 30s however 1916 was surprising. Do you think it could be a custom piece is why there are so many patents? I was so shocked to see that burl wood under all of that paint
Beautiful ! It looks so art deco to me also . Love it . What did you have to do to refinish it ? was it painted so you couldn't see burl ?
oh I missed that it was painted green :-) well you did amazing job .
There are 15 patent numbers on the lid
mine had numbers on the bottom ,
Yes it was all slopped with thick drippy gray and green paint. I was so happy to see burl wood! I love art deco furniture! I decided against sanding bc it literally would've probably destroyed the chest as much paint as there was. Decided to use citric trip and then wash it. Sanded the excess paint in the cracks and edges, then just did a satin poly finish and shined the brass inlay and redid the stripe on it. The handles are original. When purchased the drawers were all in the wrong places and didn't open or close right bc of all the psint. Veneer was coming off and it looked terrible. I was unsure how damaged it could be once the paint came off as everything else w it was badly water damaged and had been in an out building for years
This also has numbers on the bottom I'd how I found the year but I've never seen another like this one so was just curious if it was custom built
yes I believe the numbers for the date were backwards ,
I missed the paint layers part of your saying...
What a wonderful job you did on it, BRAVO!
Thanks! I've seen many cedar chests but cannot find another like this. I wonder if it was a custom project or one of a kind. The number of patents has me perplexed
That is a very nice looking chest. It is however, not from 1916. The most recent patent, 1999960, is from 1932, so your chest was made after that date. Also the style is clearly 1930's deco. I believe if you search long enough using the term, 1930's Lane chest, or similar, you will find an ad or something to help you.
Jim
hmsantiquetrunks.com
Yeah - you can look up the patents. And very much 30's styling like Jim said. BEAUTIFUL restoration job!! I wish you had a 'before' picture!
You can always contact the Lane company, too!
Hmmmm... I thought upon purchasing it that it was definately 20s to 30s however the lane furniture company info says put the serial number backwards and that will be the date it was made. If this is correct it would make it 1916. I'm not finding anything like it in the 1930s or art deco chests is why i thought maybe it was a custom piece. I did contact a person that identifies lane furniture but haven't heard back as of yet. I hope they find something. Also I've found that patent laws were very iffy then I wonder if that could be why the patent numbers are differing from the date on bottom. I'm kinda lost on this one . Why so many patent numbers? Has anyone seen that before?
I do have a before picture but was unsure how to post it lol
You can make another post with title Chest before restore :-)
Ok will do thanks!
You would have to take off one of the other photos. If there is a patent that is dated 1930's, it can't have been made in 1916! Patent searches are super easy these days with Google Patent Search. Just plug in the number and voila. You can see what they were patenting.
ALSO - some patents get renewed! So - a patent number could have been reissued at a later date that was initially issued earlier. You'd pretty much have to look them all up to see. Sometimes the filing date of the patent is different from the ISSUING date.
I think back then, patents only lasted 10 years? And those 'Saturn' style pulls are the very beginning of the 'atomic' or 'space' era / end-of-deco / here comes mid-century styling. WAY after 1916! (IMO!)
Celiene yes I definately agree! I thought the pulls looked space era as well! I guess I'll have to keep looking. Thanks!
Sorry, patents don't lie and they are not that confusing. Your first patent is a "Moth protecting and destroying device" and is from 1923. As you can see by the numbers they get larger and larger. By law any patent that was applicable to this chest had to be acknowledged. Could you please list the serial number and the model number?
Thank you,
Jim
hmsantiquetrunks.com
Jim - does Lane keep records? I still have to pull that GIANT trunk out of my shed... As soon as the weather improves!
616001 is the serial number. I was told that would make it 10/06/16 is that incorrect?
I don't know if Lane keeps records, but something that "new" I should be able to find information on. I know what you mean about the weather, it is 57 degrees here! :)
Sorry, in California that's cold......
I am however heading outside to work on a Toy Trunk.
Jim
hmsantiquetrunks.com
441265 is the model number
Did anyone figure anything out with the serial number/year?
Maybe I missed it, but what is the serial number?
Jim
hmsantiquetrunks.com
Wow, you really brought that one back. That looks so much better than it did with that old paint it's hard to imagine it's the same thing.
616001 is the serial number Jim
Ty Fat boy 64 my mom and I didn't know what we'd find under that paint. I can't believe people paint beautiful wood like that. Nobody wanted it bc it looked so awful. It was definately in need of attention
Drives you nuts doesn't it? That chalk paint trend seems to be big right now and I can't tell you how many nice dressers and such I've seen covered with that. Can't imagine what people are thinking.
Oh gosh! My mom and I just had a conversation about chalk paint. Ugly nasty stuff it is!! I've seen many of waterfall dressers and ornate buffets ruined by people making what I call Franken furniture
Well contacted an appraiser from American association of appraisers that is about an hour from where I live and he said he has never seen another chest like this and has no clue therefore couldn't give me any info on it but that it may be one of a kind or a prototype piece. I looked up each patent number and from what I found they were all dated 1914 and before from what I found on the patent search website so am unsure if I did something different or if jim used a different search than I did. Not a single one I searched came up after that date for whatever reason? I had a lady that deals in lane furniture send me a uspto.Gov patent search link. I did notice some of the patents had a letter at the end which mine does not and found that some are foreign patents so I don't know if that would make a difference or not. I'm not an expert on patent searching however there's been no more said about the serial number on the bottom