Posted 11 years ago
ryanlee
(1 item)
I really know nothing about it except that the drawers are dovetailed, its all wood (oak I think) and it used to have a mirror. I found it out in the rain and saved it. Would just like to know more
about it. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks :-)
sorry about the sideways pic, i cant fix it :/
I can tell you that not many people are going to crane their neck sideways to look at it. That is why they have hints on posting pictures here. I can also tell you it is not oak. More likely maple and/or slim possibility it is birch. Looks like someone sanded or stripped one leg. The secondary wood is probably either poplar or pine. Hard to say without seeing the inside of the thing and the drawers. Most of them this design had clear glass pulls. Were there any castors on it? If so, what were they made of? Are there holes in the legs where castors would have been? I will assume there were none due to the size of it. Is there a stencil on the back or a place where it looks like there were once a couple of staples in the back? Staple holes will generally be at or above the center drawer. It is a good find and looks to be in pretty decent shape. I would give you 100% of your investment for it. :)
Hmmm, no staple holes or stenciling. Certainly no casters. No numbers, stamping or any identifying characteristics that I can find. It did have brass drawer pulls but who knows if they were original. I mainly just wondered how old it might be or if it would be worth refinishing (to keep not sell) I'd really hate to paint it and find out what a terrible idea that was later. I know more
about it now than I did, so thanks for the craning of at least your neck :-)
I have had three like this over a period of years. The last one had six coats of paint. It was never stripped people just painted over paint. I took it down to the patina and left it natural, no sanding. Most of the paint came off with just a heat gun. Two of the three still had a heavy tag stapled to the back. Both had been shipped from Chicago to furniture stores in New Hampshire. Only one had a date that you could read and it was 1948. As I recall I sold two of them to the same dealer for $150 each. None of them had a mirror but it was obvious that at some point in time there had been mirrors on all three. The price I state was the price I got over 25 years ago. Replacing the missing drawers is going to be a challenge unless you have them out for repair. I have had good luck finding keys to work with old furniture although finding someone willing to sell or swap a key isn't easy. I actually started collecting every old key I could get my hands on no matter what it went to originally just so I had something I might be able to swap.
I spent some time on it yesterday, there are several areas of secondary wood showing. Not sure if its from water damage or previous sanding. The drawer missing is the face of the upper right small one. I have the sides and bottom and have been searching endlessly on how I can aquire the missing piece. I lucked out on the key, I have one thats in an antique gun rack that just so
happened to fit :-) Collecting them in the future is a great tip, may save me a lot of headaches. Thank you for your help
If you are handy and happen to have a band saw you can probably reproduce the drawer front although dovetails are a project for other tools and lots of experience. If you happen to live in an area that has a good old fashion dump, look for really old couches. A utility knife and a battery operated saws all will come in handy. Most old couches had frames made of butternut but some had maple and birch where there was exposed wood. Butternut won't match because the grain is to open. If you can find maple or birch you hit the jackpot. Cut it and take it home. You can use the other drawer front as a template to make your cuts. Try and get extra wood so you can make small blocks to do a test finish on. Looks like a fun project.