bigwull, mart and ghopper1924, Thank you, I have trouble believing it isn't older than 1940. There is a LOT of wear and tear, some of the drawers the wood is worn much thinner, some VERY thin and worn completely gone in spots, some drawers look great! The glue inside is just the cardboard color you described (the camera flash made the wood look white too...it is more light amber inside), being familiar with glass chipping, I have worked with that same animal hoof stinky glue. The glue is definitely darker than wood color.
The woman I built $10K worth of stained glass windows for is a dealer in Las Vegas who "estimated" it's age at appx 1900. This piece came with a couple other gorgeous pieces I traded her that she got from a very old, wealthy woman's estate in CA (mild, temperate weather). The woman was over 100 when she died and her house was full of pampered pieces. The woman's daughter mentioned something to the dealer about this chest "on a ship" and that her mother had it when she was young. Let's say "young" was 30, she died at 100, that is 70 years, plus I got it almost 20 years ago. So that seems to be 90 years IF she got it new. Maybe that "ship" is how it came here, or perhaps it was built for a ship? I have always called it the "ship's chest", thought it was some sort of dresser that locked to keep things from falling out with the listing of a ship. When I heard some of these responses I started to question what the daughter had told my friend, the dealer. Everything else I got from her is genuine to what I was told at purchase.
All this estate's pieces were top notch and very well cared for many decades. With the super worn drawers there is hardly a way to have worn them to missing in parts in 60 years. I have pieces that old that look great and I do use them! I will go take pics of the really worn drawers.
I think if anything this may have had a re-varnish but the few pieces I have refinished (not my antiques) it is nearly impossible to remove every shred of old finish. I see NO other finish anywhere, most of it is not that badly done as that picture. You know, as an artist and glass blower, I have great days and the rare crappy days, I would never put out work like that but have seen plenty of it!
Is there ANY reference or old catalogs out there showing furniture for purchase during that time? Old hardware catalogs?
