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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: RugRat5288 on August 19, 2012, 12:14:34 PM
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I was so pleased with the info you all gave me about my china cabinet i thought i would show you my blanket chest which is in poor condition and i have no idea on where it came from or if it's even old. The top opens up and it has to drawers in the bottom. It was also my grandmothers.
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I see jacon4 looking around and he might be the one to answer this !! Can we see the inside of the drawers and dovetails as well as the back ??
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I'd love to see the answers to this too. One very similar was dropped off at my favorite thrift shop doorstep. It was painted a 'lovely' pale turquoise :P It never even made it in the doorway......was gone by the time I dropped in later. The dovetails and hardware told me late 1800's/early 1900's. They likely let it go for around $30. (they tend to underprice the good, old stuff)
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Thats about the date I am thinking on this Sapphire !! Thought sure jacon4 would chime in but guess its not quite old enough !!
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What do you mean by "poor condition", ....... it looks pretty good to me.
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I'm thinking maybe 1880s. Very handsome!
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Really cant tell if its period or not but it has a Sheraton (1790-1830) skirt. This type blanket chest is often called a "mule" chest because its a cross between a blanket chest & a chest of drawers. Very functional in their day, still are actually. The faux drawers above should have pulls or holes where they were to simulate actual drawers. These chests came into fashion in America during the William & Mary period (1690-1730) and continued on up through the Federal period (1790-1830). Naturally, those dates above are big city dates where furniture fashion kept up with the times, out in rural America it was not uncommon or unusual for fashion dates to be extended, sometimes by decades.
Better pic's of the construction details, particularly the hinges could help pin down the time line for your chest but based on what we see here, guesses Sheraton mule chest, 1840-50 or so.
Check out this Sheraton mule chest that recently sold at Garth's, it has KILLER paint and sold for over $4000. It's a fair bet that your chest was originally painted as well.
http://www.maineantiquedigest.com/stories/index.html?id=2910
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I have read through these posts twice and never saw where anyone said this was in poor condition - so don't know where you saw that comment.
Good info jacon4!
Agree, pics of the sides of drawers, hardware need to be posted as well.
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First post, KC !! Owner said it !!
I can`t get those pics from MAD to come up ~~ Would love to see that chest !!
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Copied for you mart. They were small, so detail not the best
(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t98/geeziesmom/100_0031jpg_thumb.png)
(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t98/geeziesmom/100_0032.jpg)
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Heres the chest that sold at Garth
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This is off thread but in much of early american furniture, it's ALL ABOUT THE PAINT! Back in the day, paint was a big deal and was done by a trained artisan who mixed dry colored pigments with a binder (usually oil,sometimes casin or milk) and made their own paint. It wasnt until the 1850s that you could buy paint in a can already mixed which killed the craft of painters as EVERYONE was now a painter, kinda like today,lol.
Add in the 1970s American fad of stripping painted EA furniture to give it that country look and BAM! Original painted furniture is highly prized and sought after by collectors. To give one an idea of the STUNNING paint work that was done in early america, check out this william & mary chest of drawers built around 1700 near boston mass. KILLER PAINT!
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I have read through these posts twice and never saw where anyone said this was in poor condition - so don't know where you saw that comment.
Good info jacon4!
Agree, pics of the sides of drawers, hardware need to be posted as well.
RugRat said it was poor in her opening statement....
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jacon, would that type of paint (the original) be more transparent compared to more modern mass produced paint? Similar say to the tole paint we use today......semi transparent unless multicoated? I was wondering if you can still see any woodgrain through/under the design. Would love to see a close up of that chest to get a better idea of the detail. ;)
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hmmmmm, no, you cant see wood grain underneath the paint, its not transparent at all. It's more like a thin layer of stone, very tough and durable. Most EA furniture was painted originally, it wasnt until the 1780s that furniture fashion turned to clear coats to show off the natural grain of gorgeous woods like mahogany, tiger maple, cherry, walnut.
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The painted items I have seen were a mixture of both semi transparent and more opaque !! I don`t think that with that type of painting any grain would show !! The lines would pretty much eliminate that on most of it !! Thanks all for the pics !!
Your pic is brighter Sapphire,, thanks !! I can see that it did have pulls on the top !! Wish I had an old chest I would make me one of those !! Love that first paint technique that Garth had !!
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Now back to this blanket chest !! Still waiting on detail pics !! I don`t think this one was ever painted !! I think it was a bit later when much was made in pine !!
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On many older types of furniture,especially pieces that were made of,what we here in the UK,call, yellow pine or Victorian pine...or to give it its proper name Oregon Pine,..Gesso was used to prime the surface,.and it covered any imperfections in the wood,such as knots and irregularities in the grain.this is a primer using a binder,e.g. liquid glue,chalk,gypsum,the wood was painted then a varnish was applied,...then a regular grain could be made by the use of a combing effect....a bit like the application of Paint and Grain,that was popular in the 1980,s I am at present restoring an old Pine Kist....or Blanket Box as it is sometimes known,but here in Scotland it is called a Kist,...when I got it it was varnished,to make it look like old dark Oak,..this was evident when even the old steel hinges had varnish on them with a grain running through,..the surface of the Kist,looked to be perfect, but when i stripped the varnish off,i uncovered the yellow Gesso primer,and when this was removed, i could then see Knots in the surface,that were not evident when i first got the Kist,...I will post pics in a few days to show what I mean...
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What do you mean by "poor condition", ....... it looks pretty good to me.
the drawers are hardly supported and tip back. top has a crack across it. all hardware has been changed including hinges. both coners on the front by front legs are broken and just sitting in place. It had drawer pulls with two studs at one time as the holes are there and have been filled at some point as has the cracked top.
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If its the runner thats worn ,, might need a shim !!
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runners are more than worn they are sitting inside the drawers >:(
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more pictures
1st drawer dovetails
2nd drawer dovetails
3rd top view notice crack
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more pics
1st mock drawer front
2nd inside of top lid
3rd view into chest part
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These dovetails are hand cut.which means its very old,..my Kist/blanket box is circa 1920 and it has machine cut dovetails,I,ve corrected the 1902,..to what it is now...for my box
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Hi it is an early 19th century mule chest retail around £250
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I have read through these posts twice and never saw where anyone said this was in poor condition - so don't know where you saw that comment.
Good info jacon4!
Agree, pics of the sides of drawers, hardware need to be posted as well.
RugRat said it was poor in her opening statement....
I did but i'm a he not a her LOL!
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When I opened it this time a whole lot of posts that didn't show previously now show. Interesting!
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Even though it has most likely lost it's paint, it is still worth a bit of restoration. Drawer runners are not a big deal to fix, ditto the strips of wood attached to the inside of case which the runners glide on. Some new drawer pulls and BAM, almost as good as new. I can see now the drawer blades are dovetailed into the case so i am revising my earlier time line to the 1st quarter, 19th century. I would note that there are artisans now who do paint like they did back in the day, check out this site
http://www.drcobleandcompany.com/index.html
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I have to pay homage to Jacon4 !! He had it pegged !! It is earlier than I thought when looking at the first pics !! The repairs sound like would not be too difficult and it is well worth saving !! Just don`t let an inexperienced person do it !! Perhaps you could do it and post pics in the projects section so we can see how it goes !!
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This is off thread but in much of early american furniture, it's ALL ABOUT THE PAINT! Back in the day, paint was a big deal and was done by a trained artisan who mixed dry colored pigments with a binder (usually oil,sometimes casin or milk) and made their own paint.
jacon4, I once bought a large, 4-quarter wood, open-shelf cupboard with a 1-board door on the bottom section. I could see that it had been painted at least a couple times in years gone by but didn’t have a clue how old it actually was.
Thus, I started scraping and stripping the paint off of it and “bingo”, the bottom layer of paint was a “mustard” color which looked more like a “heavy” stain than present day paint looks and which my “stripper” didn’t react too. Right then I knew it was a really oldie.
Anyway, to make a long story short, it took me several weeks of tedious work to remove all that new paint as best I could. And for a 2nd surprise, in two places on the sides of that cabinet I found initials and dates that matched the family name I bought it from, painted there in a darker “reddish” paint of the same vintage. I think I sold it to a dealer from Virginia.
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Jacon4, did you notice the frame construction ??
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As far as i can tell this thing has never had any paint on it. not a trace of paint anywhere. So any guess when it might have been made?
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Eastern U.S.
I agree that it's a later iteration of an 18th century form. Jacon is right, style and technique tends to morph from cities to the countryside, where later iterations may be found decades, even centuries, later. So I'll stick with mid-late 19th century.
A wonderful piece. Congratulations!!
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Dovetailed on front is unusual, if thats what it is !! Looks like it in pic !!
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Yes, the case is dovetailed, a common form of construction in the 18th century. This chest is made with yellow pine which indicates southern or mid atlantic region of origin. The thickness of the pine case also suggests 18th century. It's entirely possible that this is in fact an 18th century Queen Anne chest, the skirt looks like Sheraton but might just be a country version of QA, so i am going to revise my time line again, lol. Last quarter 18th century to 1st quarter 19th century. The quality of pics are not very good, difficult to get a sense of the entire piece.
In any event, absolutely worthy of a bit of restoration by a professional who could bring the piece back to its former self.
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I would certainly have it restored !! But don`t do anything except repair it to make it usable and by someone that knows what they are doing !! I love the finish as it is !!
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I would add that if it's southern and if it's 18th century ( thats 2 if's so far) that would increase it's value because southern EA furniture generally speaking, sells for far more than new england furniture does because there is less of it due to war & climate.
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Cogar, yeah, theres good and bad news on early painted furniture. The good news is, modern strippers usually cant penetrate or remove it, the bad news is, during the 1970s country fad, many pieces of painted furniture were stripped with a belt sander, OUCH!
What you did is commonly referred to as dry scraping, very tedious but it works pretty well to remove modern layers of paint.
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Over here in UK,in the 80,s/90,s..a whole host of small business,s sprung up,promoting....Dipping painted Pine Kists,Doors,Fire Surrounds,etc,..in a tank of diluted Caustic Soda,...which did the job,...but as it is a corrosiveliquid, it took all the resin out of the wood,and the glues that sometime held these pieces together,and the Yellow Pine ceased to be yellow when it came out....it was more of a dirty grey......as i said in a previous post, i,ve just stripped a Pine Kist,...using a non acidic stripper,..and its still yellow,
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jatcon4, I used a belt sander back when I was stripping furniture.
But not on the wood.
I discovered that a “cutter bar” knife blade (see pic below) makes the bestest ever paint or finish “scraping” tool that one can get their hands on. I have 3 or 4 of them which I scavaged from “junk boxes” at farm auctions. You can buy “new” ones but they will have a “serrated” edge which will have to be “sanded” smooth.
They are made of high tensile/tempered steel and I used the belt sander to keep them razor sharp and/or to contour the “point” for inside-corners and moldings.
And you always “scrape” backward …. with the beveled edge of the blade always pointing away from the wood surface.
(http://upload.ecvv.com/upload/Product/20101/China_New_Holland_blade_knife_section20101191005121.JPG)
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http://www.eldreds.com/auctions/detail/item/169495/sale/765/dept/3