Frogpatch, I don’t know who made that cabinet or when, but it has all the “signs” of a pre-1882 hand-made solid Walnut base cabinet.
1-board burl Walnut top
solid Walnut chamfered door panels (and probably side panels)
solid Walnut 2-board chamfered back panel
serpentine drawer front cut from 4-quarter (4/4”) or 5-quarter (5/4”) solid Walnut board
square nails
hand-cut drawer front mortises
surface lock on door is original – note clearance cut-out @ front edge center of shelf
The door-stops on the bottom shelf are newly added or replaced. (door-stops were more often placed above the doors on the top cross-member, …. simply because “pressure” was applied at the top of the door when closing it, not at the bottom of the door)
The top portion of a 2-part cabinet is only unstable relative to it “falling” forward, … not backward, …… except for when it is being moved toward the wall or away from the wall. Thus, a 2-screw strap on the backside (1 strap in center or 2 straps with 1 on each side) is sufficient to stabilize cabinet top. (or a piece of wire and 1 nail/screw in the wall above the cabinet, works also
)
The cabinet’s current height of “only 29 inches tall” is irrelevant given the possibility that the legs could have been cut off …. or ….. that is the original height that the cabinetmaker chose to make it. Most furniture of that era was “made-to-order”, …… it was not ordered “already-made”.
And keep in mind the fact that
the average height of
a female in the 1800's was
5 feet (60") tall.
The wife’s grandfather was a cabinetmaker and carpenter and all the furniture that he made was for himself or his children, …. but was “made-to-order” for all his customers ….. including the dozens n’ dozens of
caskets that he “made-to-fit” the dear departed.
