How Old is this China Hutch?

[talesofthesevenseas]

I bought this china hutch in 1989, after the Loma Prieta earthquake demolished almost every piece of china I had at the time. I didn't pay much for it as I recall. Here's what I can tell you about it.

It is in two pieces.
The back of the upper part is all mirror and a lot of the silvering is coming off.
The shelves are glass.
The wood has a lot of worm holes, it was that way when I got it and there has been no signs of progression in twenty years.
The hardware appears to be all original.
The glass doors and lower cabinets all lock with a old-type tubular "skeleton key"
The cabinets are curved, single pieces of wood.
The drawers and cabinet fronts have veneers on them.
The drawers are dovetailed, varying sizes on the dovetails.
It does not seem to be particularly well-constructed, and I suspect it is not terribly valuable.

Here is the whole hutch:


Lower cabinet:


Top decoration:


Dovetails:



Hardware:



I'd love to know how old it is, let me know if more photos are needed!
Thanks gang!

[Tim]

From your photos (which are good), appears to be a Queen Anne revival piece, circa 1940-50. Any writing/stenciling etc. may help the research.

[syl]

Very nice hutch 7c's. Probably not extremely valuable but perfect for displaying your things. Went through that earthquake too but fortunately very little damage at our house. Thanks for your help with the silver overlay site you recommended. I came up with 3 other possible makers. By the way, since you seem to know a lot about the Bay Area and things maritime, have you ever heard of a San Francisco turn of the century painter named William Alexander Coulter? He painted maritime scenes. We have two of his paintings. We posted pictures on the forum awhile back, around page 20 if you wanted to take a look. Thanks. 

[talesofthesevenseas]

Thanks, no I don't think the hutch is worth much, and I didn't expect it to be very old, but it's functional and does the job it was meant to do! But its always good to check to be sure!

In the '89 quake, we lived just outside Los Gatos, so we got hit pretty hard. I had an open hutch and when the quake hit, I got in a doorway and hung on tight with my baby son hanging on and screaming as we watched all my Blue Danube china flying out of the hutch and crashing on the floor! My husband grabbed me around the waist and pulled us out of the house.

When we went in, the first thing I looked for was the bowl shown below. It dates back to my great-great-great-grandmother and is dated 1871. My grandparents gave it to me on my wedding day. I looked up to the top of the hutch where it had been sitting, and even though all the other pieces were shattered on the floor, there it was... teetering right on the edge!!!! I reached up to grab it and exactly at the second I got my fingers over the edge of the bowl, we were hit with the first major aftershock! These pieces of china have been treasured by the women in the family and I always felt like the grandmothers were looking out for their beloved china that day!!

No I'm not familiar with the artist you mentioned, but I will check out the old posting. Glad you're finding info on the silver overlay china!

Here's the bowl that survived against all odds:

[ironlord1963]

Great save.  You Rock  .

[D&b antiques]

Syl Bonhams Auction recently sold a William A Coulter painting for $44,000 Dollars. coulter's average $ 30,000 to $ 40,000 + consistenly when they appear at auction.

That's for his oil painting's. not Drawing's.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Thanks Ironlord, it ended up making a great story that has been retold a lot of times! LOL, I've got this image in my head of the ghostly apparitions of my grandmothers, all struggling to hold that dish up on the top shelf!! Who knows, perhaps the story will find its way into family legend and I'll be known as the "Granny Who Saved the Dish"!!!

Wow D&B- that's pretty amazing on the Coulter! Syl, I took a look at your old post... BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

[ironlord1963]

Lol,  If you are an artist or know a artist that would make a great picture.  Made me laugh hard. thanks

[D&b antiques]

I Have my way of high jacking, a post. I think it goes a long with age. maybe better than starting a nother thread on and old post.

[talesofthesevenseas]

No worries D&B, I've enjoyed all of it!! I don't think anyone will suggest changing your name to D&B Cooper!!!

Ironlord, I hope you saw them in their period dresses clinging tightly to the bowl shouting words of encouragement to each other using proper Victorian grammar! LOL! That is just how they would be!

[luxetveritas]

Just catching up on the forum Tales and thought this story (of the bowl I mean) definitely deserved a comment. I too grew up in the bay area and have quite a few memories. That bowl is beautiful and will hopefully remain a treasured family piece for many years to come. Much of my grandparent's china has been/was destroyed in California quakes. I have a few pieces that I really treasure left, but I no longer display them in my cabinet. I can just imagine a few Victorian grandmother's with their proper attire holding the bowl up Great story.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Hey Lux,

I would really like to hear how you had your china pieces stored during the various quakes. Where they in an enclosed glass hutch? I talked to a lot of people immediately after the quake and the ones I talked to said that all their pieces fell up against the glass, but didn't go through it. They had trouble opening the hutch and getting them out, but everything was intact.

The hutch I had during the '89 quake was an open shelf unit, so everything went flying through the air and crashed on the floor. That the bowl stayed on the very top of the whole unit seems nothing short of miraculous!

Did your pieces actually go through the glass of an enclosed hutch or break against each other inside it? I've been thinking maybe I should put the hierloom pieces in nice safe padded boxes and lock them in the bottom of the hutch, and just bring them out for special occasions.

I also lost some not too valuable pieces in smaller quakes that were up on top of a piano. (yes that was dumb, but I learned that lesson purty darn quick!)

Some of the damage would vary depending on the path of the quake and how the wall was oriented in respect to the waves of the quake. I remember my upright piano rocking forward and up onto it's front legs that support the keyboard, tilting there, then slamming back against the wall and the hanging light bashing up against the ceiling.

Do you remember the roar that the '89 quake made?!! That was the most amazing thing was the sound. It was like a jet plane right there in my kitchen, and I could barely hear the sound of the china smashing because the quake itself was so loud!!

[KC]

My better half is from CA and have lots of relatives living in CA - they all use Museum Putty to secure their items in their china cabinets/hutches.

[talesofthesevenseas]

I do have museum wax on my Egyptian artifacts. I hadn't thouht about it for the china. It works great for most quakes, but I don't know how well it will work for another 7.0 or bigger like the Loma Prieta quake. Once you get past 7 on the Richter scale there's only so much you can do, short of not displaying at all. I've been considering that for the old family china, like Lux was saying, since I have plenty of nice Blue Danube that can be displayed and it wouldn't be a tragedy if it broke.

[luxetveritas]

Most of my china that broke was in a closed hutch, with glass doors. Most of what broke crashed into each other, nothing actually want through the glass. A few piece fell- sadly my most treasured, fell from atop the hutch- a few vases and that have been in the family for ages, and a very old majolica vase that my grandfather bought my grandmother when they were living in Milan. Now what family pieces I have left I don't display, keeping them in boxes actually, wrapped with tissue paper and bubble wrap in the cabinet beneath on of my hutches. That's really the only way I can keep them safe indefinitely. Oh- and so true about opening a glass hutch after a quake! My brother's wife broke more from opening her hutch than the quake broke. '89 was definitely one of the scariest experiences of my life. And yes, the roar!! That sound would make a grown man cry like a baby! Even talking about quakes scare the living you know what out of me, but that's what I get for living along a fault