tiger eye maple dresser and box Part II (no motos)

[zoltan]

sorry for the mix up in the last thread. i'll try again!

[cogar]

There is Tiger (striped) Maple, which is what yours is ...... and there is Bird's Eye Maple which looks like this, to wit:

[hosman321]

Oh, that is just beautiful! To determine a date we'll need to see pictures of the side of one of the drawers (to show drawer construction) and probably pictures of the back of the dresser, too. I love it!

[JoshandLila]

very nice! do you have the skeleton key for the locks?

[matty77]

Beautiful piece!  Great quality wood was used, the craftsmanship looks fantastic, and I love the Shaker-style stuff.  However, it doesn't look old to me at all - the condition of the finish (especially the Shaker knobs/pulls) is just too perfect.  Even if I'm correct, it doesn't mean that it is not valuable though - a high-quality piece will always get a decent price, regardless of age.  Especially timeless styles like Shaker!  Thanks for sharing!

[zoltan]

this was from my original post in case any one missed it. i will work on getting more pix also.

i have always refered to this style of maple as tigers stripe,so correct me if i'm not right on that.
  the dresser is made of solid wood, no veneer at all. the drawer fronts themselves are over 7/8" thick, and have a very rich, lustrous, translucent look to the finish. the drawers pull very smooth, and have widely spaced dovetails. i do not have the key for the drawers unfortunately.
  the box is also the same tiger stripe maple, only it is veneer, but still very striking and matches pretty well with the dresser. it looks like there might have been a lining of some sort inside the box because there are glue/attachment stains inside. i'm also missing the key for the box. there is some writing on the inside of the lid in pencil, but i can't decipher what it says.
  just wondering if anyone has seen similar pieces, and how old they are, where they are from, and knows what the relative worth is?

i will post additional pix.

[cogar]

That looks like Federal style chest of drawers ……. but with its legs cut off.

[matty77]

I guess anything is possible - I've seen many pieces that are variants of certain styles, or mixtures of 2 or more.  I saw Cogar's pic above in Google Images for "Federal Chest of Drawers", but I think it is somewhat of an exception.  Most of the federal pieces I have seen are more characterized by fluting of the legs, inlays, beading and/or stringing, and the pulls are usually much more ornate - almost always brass.  With the exception of the (assumed) dovetailed drawers on Zoltan's, this piece could have conceptually been made without even using a router.  IN GENERAL - Shaker pieces are largely defined by their simplicity, while the lack of ornamentation would have been fairly uncharacteristic of a Federal piece.

Again - I'm speaking in generalities!  It does not mean that Cogar is not correct that this particular chest is Federal in style!  Simply that if it is, it is a somewhat uncharacteristic piece.

[matty77]

Here are some pics of some run-of-the-mill Shaker chests:

[zoltan]

more

[zoltan]

more

[zoltan]

more

[zoltan]

more

[zoltan]

more

[zoltan]

more