Antique Chest Of Drawers

Antique English Chests on Chest and Tallboys

Walnut chest on chest, of first quarter of 18th century with half herring bone cross banding on drawers. Bottomdrawe has curved centre panel inlaid with ’sunburst’ and waved apron. Top and bottom halves with chamfered and fluted corners. Bracket Feet. Veneer fairly straight in figure and grain; carcase  fronts veneered and drawers lip-moulded on edges.
Price Range: $160-$300
Value points: Size 6′6″ high or under
Sunburst in bottom drawer
Chamfered and fluted corners

A Queen Anne period or possibly George I chest on chest or ‘tallboy’ in walnut veneer. In this example there is an ovolo ‘lip’ moulding around the drawer edges to lap over the flat veneered carcase front edges when closed. The drawers are not actually cross banded; an inlaid stringing line around the drawers, suitably inset from the edges, gives this effect. Note that the bracket feet are also veneered in the same vertical figure arrangement as the front of the piece - restorers sometimes forget to do this when replacing feet.
The sides are veneered, with a cross banding down the vertical edges only - a feature common to these pieces.
Price Range: $250-$350
Value points: As for other chests

Simpler mahogany tallboy, without brushing slide and with a plain frieze under the cornice. Chamfered and reeded sides to the top half and serpentine bracket feet add quality to this example.
Price Range: $75-$90
Value points: Chamfered and reeded sides  Serpentine and bracket feet

More ornate mahogany tallboy, with dentil moulding; the frieze under it is decorated with a blind fret pattern. The reeded pillars let into the sides have decorative brass mounts and the finely figured drawers have a cross banding inside the cock bead. Serpentine bracket feet complete a high quality example.
Price Range: $200-$250
Value points: Decoration and carving  Dentil frieze and blind fret

English Chests on Stand

William and Mary walnut chest on stand. Cross banded drawers and top with inlaid stringing line. Note early period thumb-nail top edge moulding. Half-round moulding on carcase front. c. 1690.
Price Range: $200-$400
Value points: See section notes

William and Mary Period - c. 1690 - oyster and marquetry chest on stand of superb quality. The twist turning which remained so popular after the Restoration is well illustrated in the legs. The flat, shaped stretcher is veneered in walnut on the top face. The mouldings are first class examples of the cross-grained type of the period and the thick inlaid boxwood lines are bold examples of the type. Note that the sides are also veneered and inlaid with boxwood stringing. A half round moulding on the carcase front follows the
drawer edges.
Price Range: $800-$1,200
Value points: Quality of marquetry decoration

William and Mary Walnut and Marquetry chest on stand. Half-round moulding on carcase front around drawers. ‘Concave’ top edge moulding. Panels of marquetry on drawer fronts. Convex-fronted cushion drawer in top of chest, under top moulding. Typical period stand in solid walnut with inverted cup turning, shaped stretchers and bun feet. c. 1690-1700.
Price Range: $350-$1, 000. Large range scale accounted for by originality of base or stand.
Value points: Quality of marquetry and veneer

William and Mary oak chest on stand with drawers cross banded in walnut. The projecting lip moulding, rather like a cock bead, around the shaped frieze of the base, is a feature found on dressing tables of the period. Note the double D moulding on carcase front around the drawers.
Price Range: $160-$I90
Value points: Drawers cross banding

Queen Anne period chest on stand. First quarter 18th century. Note the fine cabriole legs and shaped base. Carcase fronts now flat veneered - no moulding - and drawers have ovolo lip moulding around edges to ‘lip’ over carcase front. Drawers cross banded. Note concave typical top moulding.
Price Range: Walnut $200 - $400. Oak $85 - $140 Value points:
In Walnut: Quality and originality of cabriole legs
In Oak:    Colour and grain  Medullary rays (see A. C. C.
Wood Identification Supplement) across drawer
fronts tend to detract from value.
Drawer cross banding: If in walnut or fruitwood  Mahogany (after 1730)  Many country versions have no cross banding or ovolo moulding on drawers.

Queen Anne period chest on stand in veneer. Note that the cabriole legs have the shell motif on the knee - a mark of quality -and web feet, an unusual feature also of quality. The piece is boldly proportioned with shaped frieze to the stand, half round or ‘D’ moulding on the carcase front around the drawers and a simple cross banding. All the mouldings are cross-grained and of good proportionPrice
Range: $300-$400
Value points: Quality and originality of cabrioles

Queen Anne country walnut chest on stand. Ogee type top edge moulding; half-round or ‘D’ moulding on carcase edges around drawers. Note the ‘half-herring bone’ cross banding around drawers i.e. the cross banding is at 45 degrees - a cheaper variation of the full herring-bone or ‘feather’ type cross banding. This type of cross banding was used on country pieces until a later date, running concurrently with full herring-bone; it is easier and simpler to produce. The square-cut cabriole legs are rather clumsy - those on the illustrated piece are not original. The top is not veneered and it has plain pine sides and drawer linings. The handles and escutcheons are period reproductions. Walnut veneer has some figure but the piece has poor patination. A patch in the veneer can be seen on the second long drawer in the top half, on the left hand side.
Price Range: $120-$150
Value points: See section notes

English Bachelor Chests and Chests of Drawers

George I period walnut bachelor chest of drawers. Note evolution of a slightly later period in chests of drawers in the flat veneered carcase fronts and the drawers with cock-beading around the edges. Herring-bone or feather inlay in the drawers gives a cross banded effect. Size approx. 2′ 3″ wide by 2′ 8″ high by 11 0″ deep. Drawers oak lined.
Note the very fine selection of walnut figure shown in this example.
Price Range: $1,000-$1,500 Value points: See section notes

A walnut bachelor’s chest of c. 1725 - 30, the drawers having cock beading and herring-bone or ‘feather’ inlay. The top is cross-banded and again has a herring-bone inlay between central panel of veneer and cross banding.
Price Range: $1,000-$1,500 Value points: See section notes

An early mahogany bachelor’s chest; the design following quite plainly the earlier walnut type. The folding top is simple and solid, without an edge moulding.
Price Range: $450-$550
In this case the fading and figure of the mahogany are particularly remarkable, and would constitute  points.

English Oak, Walnut and Mahogany Chests of Drawers

William and Mary period - c. 1690 - Walnut chest of drawers on bun feet, (not original). Inlaid with boxwood stringing lines in geometric pattern on top. Possibly placed originally on a low stand. Note the deep top edge moulding is more towards Queen Anne type but half-round or ‘D’ moulding on carcase fronts remains. Fairly straight-grained veneer but sides veneered and cross banded.
Price Range: 150-300
Value points: See section notes

Walnut chest of drawers of later period, c.1740-50, country made. The drawers are pine lined. The thin top edge moulding gives an example of later lack of boldness and the original double ‘D’ moulding around the drawers has been replaced by a single ‘D’ which is a little too clumsy at this width. Drawer fronts veneered in plain straight-grained walnut with little figure. Cross banding of drawers is ‘half-herring-bone’ , i.e. at 45 degrees which is typical of country pieces which emulated an earlier period. The top quartered and
cross banded in plain walnut. This piece has added interest in that the sides, instead of being plain pine or oak are, in fact, solid walnut (- factor).
Price Range: $75-$120
Value points: Treatment of sides i. e. Veneered  Solid Walnut
There are still plenty of these chests about but beware many ‘improved’ or recently veneered country pieces.

Mid-18th century mahogany chest of drawers on bracket feet. A thin thumb-nail top edge moulding round the top is echoed by the ovolo, lip moulding around the drawers. A very typical example of mid-18th century chests of fair quality and which are also found in oak and pine with occasional country variations.
Price Range: $50-$70
Value points: Figure of wood
(Faded mahogany is popular)

Mid-18th century mahogany chest of drawers. c. 1760. The four graduated drawers are cock beaded around the edges. The deep ovolo top edge moulding is repeated in the moulding around the base, above the shaped bracket feet. The figure of the wood is dark and rich.
Price Range: $60-$90
Value points: Size width. 3′ 0″ or under  2′ 9″ or under  2′ 6″ or under -
Figure of wood

A mid-18th century chest of drawers of high quality; of a design normally found in mahogany. Bold thumb-nail top edge moulding; brushing slide; chamfered and reeded sides; a fine graduation of drawer sizes; all indicate the quality of the piece. The bracket feet are boldly shaped and the plain ’swan neck’ handles are contemporary. Note the replacement of escutcheon plates by thethinthreaded key hole fittings.
Price Range: $100-$150 Value points: Brushing slide

A George III mahogany serpentine chest of drawers of a design frequently called Chippendale. Note the brushing slide and blind fretted edges. The decorated handles are of a high quality, matching the piece. The mahogany is of a fine faded colour and the mouldings and bracket feet are boldly executed. These pieces are of a heavier and bulkier character and the general rule of small size equating with higher value does not necessarily apply in this case.
Price Range: $400-$650
Value points: Brushing slide
Bold sweep of front elevation Fretted edges
Pronounced Mouldings

A late 18th century mahogany bow fronted chest of drawers with brushing slide. The four graduated drawers are cock beaded. The splayed feet have a nicely shaped apron between them. The top is cross banded with satinwood, an unusual feature of quality.
Price Range: $185-$225
Value points: Cross banding of top

A late 18th century bow fronted mahogany chest of three drawers with brushing slide, splayed feet and attractive apron.
Price range: $120 to $160
Value points: Low proportions  Brushing slide

A late 18th century serpentine fronted mahogany low chest of drawers on splayed feet. There is an inlaid line of boxwood stringing around the top edge.
Price Range: $75-$120
Value points: Size: since this is a low chest, the width is not as critical a factor in the price as with normal chests, but still affects value.

Mahogany chest on chest of drawers, or tallboy with brushing slide. The top half has a dentil frieze under the cornice and the sides are chamfered and reeded. The bracket feet are of serpentine shape. The swan-neck handles are original.
Price Range: $80-$100
Value points: Size is not such an important factor, since most pieces are fairly large and for this reason not expensive. A height of 6′ 6″ or under would however add to value.

A late 18th century mahogany bow fronted chest of drawers. This piece is of lower proportions, with deep drawers, and being thus somewhat smaller than the previous example, is in a slightly higher price range. The cock beading around the drawer edges can be seen clearly.
Price Range: $60-$85
Value points: See section notes

A late 18th century bow fronted mahogany chest of drawers. With ring handles and splayed feet.
Price Range: $45-$75
Value points: Size: Height 3′ 6″ or under

A Regency period mahogany bow-fronted chest of drawers with an applied solid twist or rope decoration down the front edge corners. The top and bottom edges are reeded. The turned legs give a hint of the rather bulbous turned examples that followed in the Victorian period. Although rather tall, the proportion of such chests is still good, particularly bearing in mind the larger houses which they were designed for.
Price Range: $5O- E1OO
Value points: Quality of wood used i. e. figure and decorative effect

Victorian mahogany bow-fronted chest of drawers on turned feet. The drawers have a heavy cock bead and the turned wooden knobs are also mahogany. The size of such chests tends to be large and cumbersome; the drawers less in number and hence deeper than earlier types.
Price Range: $10$-20
Value points: Satinwood …. Figured veneers

A Victorian chest of drawers of c. 1860, Usually made in mahogany. The ponderous moulded front of the top drawer throws the piece off balance and the bottom, with a solid flat base, raised slightly by turned knob feet, cannot hope to compensate in design. The turned wooden knobs are dear to the Victorian hearts and were frequently used as a replacement on chests of earlier periods in order to ‘improve’ them or bring them up to date - a vile practice which has ruined many fine 18th century pieces. Due to the fact that
they are extremely solidly made, regrettably large numbers of these chests have survived.
Price Range: $7-$I2
Value points: None

A very fine William and Mary period - c. 1690 - chest of drawers in oyster veneer, decorated with stringing lines in geometrical patterns. The wood used is laburnum, which gives a rich dark colour with a. hard, close grain. Even the half-round carcase edge mouldings around the drawers, the cross banding and the top and bottom edge ogee mouldings are in this wood, but the bun feet are probably walnut. Note that the sides are also decorated in the same manner as the top.
Price Range: 500-750
Value points: Quality of decoration  Decorated sides

William and Mary period - c. 1690 - chest of drawers veneered in laburnum oyster pieces. Possibly Anglo-Dutch due to low positioning of locks and the thin drawer linings. Top veneered in concentric circles of oysters. Sides also veneered in oysters with wide cross banding. Width 3ft. Note heavy top edge moulding similar to thumbnail and half-round or ‘D’ moulding on carcase front around drawers. Cross banding of drawers, top and sides in laburnum also. Handles not original.
Price Range: 250-450
Value points: Colour, patination and oyster pattern

A very fine William and Mary period - c. 1690 - chest of drawers in oyster veneer, decorated with stringing lines in geometrical patterns. The wood used is laburnum, which gives a rich dark colour with a hard, close grain. Even the half-round carcase edge mouldings around the drawers, the cross banding and the top and bottom edge ogee-mouldings are in this wood, but the bun feet are probably walnut. Note that the sides are also decorated in the same manner as the top.
Price Range: 500-750
Value points: Quality of decoration  Decorated sides

Early walnut chest of drawers - c. 1700 - inlaid with stringing lines in boxwood. Note heavy thumb-nail moulding around edge of top echoed in the moulding around the base above the bracket feet, possibly originally on low stand as feet are not original. The grain on original veneered feet is usually vertical, both to follow the direc - tion of the grain on the drawer front and because if it were cross -ways the veneer would chip off more easily. Half-round or ‘D’ moulding on carcase fronts around drawers. All mouldings cross-grained and in short lengths.
Price Range: $150-$350
Value points: Quality of decoration

Late 17th century - c. 1680 - oak chest of drawers often misnamed Jacobean. Note the simple mouldings and fielded panelling of the drawers. The chest is made in two halves for ease of transportation. The bun feet are typical of the William and Mary period. The drawers run on side rails on a rebate in the thick drawer linings, which are normally in oak.
The thin top has a thumb-nail lip edge moulding. The handles are original.*
Price Range: $80-$120
Value points: Veneered panels in other woods  Intricacy of mitred drawer fronts  Applied split baluster decoration  Decorated inlay
Original feet
*Note the deep second drawers.

A late 17th century oak chest of drawers similar to the previous example. The mitred drawer fronts are more decorated and the balance of the piece is lighter. There is a convex moulding under the top and the carcase frame continues down to form the feet; a feature of an earlier period. The knobs are not original.
Price Range: $75-$110
Value points: Veneered panels and inlaid decoration

17th-18th Century English Oak, Walnut and Mahogany Chests

Early 17th century oak chest with three front panels decorated with stylised geometric carving. The rails are also carved with an arched pattern typical of the period. On this chest the plain solid sides are of walnut whi ch was much more commonly used wood than is generally supposed but of which less survived than oak due to its greater susceptibility to woodworm.
Price Range: $60-$90
Value points: Depth, intricacy and profusion of carving  The addition of human faces, figures.
Dating and initials (if genuine)

Mid-17th century oak chest with panelled front, top and sides. The front panels and rails are carved in fairly shallow decoration of a botanical nature. The escutcheon plate has been added later.
Price Range: $35-$45
Value points: Quality of carving …

Mid-17th century oak chest with fielded panels. diamond shaped inlay of light wood (box or holly).
Price Range: 35-45
Value points: Decoration  Internal herb tray
Mouldings  Original lock
Inlay of flowers etc.

Mid-17th century plain oak chest with three undecorated panels in lid and front. Ornamentation of the frieze by carving is typical of these pieces.
Price Range: $30-$40
Value Points: Decoration  Dating
Coats of Arms
Warning:- These simple chests were often ‘improved’ in the Victorian period by elaborate carving; in an attempt to simulate age, the quality of the carving looks very amateur.

Late 17th century oak chest with single drawer beneath; the evolution of the chest of drawers is commencing. The split baluster decoration and the mouldings are similar to those found on chests of drawers.
Price Range: $45-$65
Value points: Quality of mouldings and decorations

A walnut and marquetry chest of c. 1680 decorated with various coloured marquetries on an ebony ground. The panels are an unusual formation. There is a drawer in the base and the chest rests upon a separate stand. The bun feet are replacements.
Price Range: $450-$550
Value points: Complexity of colour and design of decoration

Early 18th century oak chest, with two drawers under and three fielded front panels. It is on bracket feet and shows the transition from simple lidded chests to chests of drawers.
The ovolo mouldings on the drawers suggest it is not of an earlier date.
Price Range: $25-$35
Value points: Inlay or decoration

Early 18th century chest veneered in walnut of highfigure on an oak carcase. It is decorated with herring-bone inlay. There are, carrying handles at each end; the base is separate.
Price Range: $90-$110
Value points: Figure of walnut Trunk lid

Mid-18th century elm country chest of simple construction from solid planks. Integral base and bracket feet. Common side dovetails show on the front face.
Price Range: 10-15
Value points: Mouldings around lid and base Figure and grain of wood

A walnut chest of c. 1740 date, decorated with inlaid boxwood stringing to give a cross banded effect. The small double lip moulding around the drawers, on the carcase fronts, is a later refinement of ‘double D’ mouldings of an earlierperiod. The top edge moulding is also a Georgian refinement. It is interesting to note the three small top drawers, usually a warning that the piece has been on a stand, but in this case the veneered top could be an indication that this need not be so.
Price Range: $100-$150
Value points: Quality of decoration  Veneered sides

English Chests and Chests of Drawers of 17th, 18th and 19th Century
The earliest forms of chest were simple coffer-like constructions with solid sides reaching to the floor to act as feet. By the 17th century, a joined frame construction with panels had appeared and these panels, and also sometimes the hinged lid, were decorated with carving and even inlays. The evolution of the clothing used in the later part of the 17th century made it undesirable to keep heaping clothes on top of each other inside these pieces and drawers appeared in sides to separate them.
The chest of drawers is said to have appeared about 1650 and the first forms were half chest and half cabinet. Usually there was one deep drawer either in the upper or lower part and shallower ones enclosed by doors. The drawers were grooved in the sides to run on bearers fixed to the carcase until after the Restoration, when bottom drawer runners appeared.
On the early types the fronts are often decorated with mitred geometrical mouldings and split balusters. Inlays of bone, ivory and mother of pearl are to be found on the more important pieces. With the advent of walnut fashions towards the end of the century, much more sophisticated and decorative chests of drawers, usually on stands with twist or cup-form legs appeared. The bun foot used on such chests gradually gave way, in ordinary chests to bracket feet, and to those on stands to the cabriole leg so popular in the first
half of the 18th century. Oak continued to be used during the evolutionary period of walnut from 1670-1730, after which mahogany became much more general except in country pieces, which were made in a variety of woods.
Value Points -
Oak Period (to 1690)
-Value points are given individually for early oak chests. For chests of drawers however the following points must be taken as common to all examples:-
Walnut Period (1670-1740)
-In chests on stands,the existence of an original stand gives a  factor. (The legs, stretchers and feet on such stands have nearly always been replaced due to damage and rot.
Marquetry
-Choice of veneers, figures and patination
-Original brass handles and keyhole plates
-Faded cross-grain mouldings in short lengths
-Veneered top (on chests or stands)  (this was left unveneered on pieces originally over about 5′6″ high).
-Veneered and cross banded sides  (country pieces left sidesoak or pine and the side mouldings were cut along the grain instead of across it).
-Oak drawer linings  (country pieces usually lined in pine). Original bracket or bun feet
For chests of drawers, or chests on stands the following notation applies -
-Quartered top. The best quality chests of drawers had the tops veneered in four matching pieces to form a fine formal pattern in veneers. Lesser quality pieces sometimes have the top veneered in two matching halves, while country pieces sometimes had one plain sheet of top veneer.
-’Feather’ or ‘herring-bone’ inlay or cross banding
Mahogany Period (1730 onwards)
In mahogany examples the following points may be taken to commonly affect value:-
Choice of wood and figure
(Early Spanish mahogany or decoratively figured wood add greatly to the price).
-Original handles and keyhole plates
-Oak linings
-Serpentine bracket feet on later examples
-Colour and patination
(Fading mahogany is considered particularly desirable).
For all chests, it may be taken that structural condition and originality are important value points.

CHESTS ON CHESTS
The grandest form of walnut chest on chest, incorporating an inlaid ’sunburst’ in the bottom drawer, brushing slide and canted corners on the top half, the corners being fluted with cross-grained moulding. The drawers are veneered with finely matched walnut and have herring-bone cross-banding and a walnut cock-bead. c.1715
A plainer walnut chest on chest with inlaid herring-bone to cross-banded drawers edged with ovolo lip moulding to cover the carcase edges. No slide, canted corners or sunburst.
A fine quality mahogany chest on chest with cross-banded drawers with cockbeading, mounted on serpentine bracket feet. The top chest features pillared fluted corners with brass mounts and a blind fret beneath the dentil top moulding and the pillars.
A good quality mahogany chest on chest on serpentine bracket feet, with reeded canted corners to the top chest.
c.1770  A plain mahogany chest on chest with no decoration, on bracket feet. Also made in oak.
A good quality mahogany chest on chest with reeded canted corners, key pattern to the top moulding and an inlaid ebony and boxwood stringing line round each drawer. Often found in oak as well as mahogany.
A Chippendale mahogany chest on chest, of high quality, with broken pediment, dentil decorated cornice, brushing slide and serpentine bracket feet.
A bow-fronted chest on chest with dentil top moulding and splay feet.
An interesting bow-fronted chest on chest on Hepplewhite-style splayed feet. The top shows the black inlaid stringing lines popularised by the revival of classical design. Note, too, how the gradation of the drawers produces a better effect than 363 which is altogether an inferior piece.
1800-1820 Commode
A semi-circular commode on tapering legs.
satinwood inlaid two door
A Hepplewhite serpentine-front commode chest of drawers in mahogany. Fitted with slide. The fin-lire projections on the sides and the shaped apron beneath together with shape of moulding all point towards the work of this designer. An elegant piece with fine patination and original handles.
A mahogany serpentine -front chest on heavily carved cabriole legs. The design is similar to Chippendale but shows later influences in the acanthus leaf carving and scrolling of the legs. It is a type often reproduced.
An interesting design of Thomas Hope influence, showing Egyptian heads and ebony stringing lines.
A mahogany commode on spirally fluted tapering legs. A more classical design not unlike those illustrated by Sheraton.

CHESTS  serpentine, 1770-1800
A fine quality serpentine mahogany chest with canted fluted corners, a slide and bracket feet. The handles are possibly original. 1770-1780
A Sheraton design mahogany serpentine chest featuring inlaid shell motifs and boxwood and ebony stringing lines. The plate handles may be original. Note the heavy bracket feet.
1780-1800
A mahogany serpentine chest of drawers without slide and with a narrower corner with fluting, on bracket feet. The drawers are cross-banded and the swan-neck handles are original. 1770-1790
A mahogany serpentine chest on splayed feet with inlaid boxwood. stringing lines and mahogany crossbanding. Note how the corners terminate in a sharp edge without a canted surface or decoration. The splayed feet follow the late eighteenth century designs of Hepplewhite. 1780-1800
CHESTS  dower, and trunks, on stands
A walnut chest on a more elaborate stand, with cabriole legs incorporating shell motifs and ball-and-claw feet. Carrying handles are again fitted. Legs and stands of this type were extensively reproduced between the wars. 1725-1735
A mahogany domed chest/trunk on a square fluted stand. Again the domed top affects the price as does the size and the stand which, despite the use of fluting to lighten up appearance, does nothing to disguise the bulk of the piece.

CHESTS  on cabriole leg stands, 1700-1750
A fine quality walnut veneered chest on cabriole leg stand, the legs have a scroll at the shoulder. The veneers on the drawer fronts are matched and the carcase edges around the drawers have double-D cross-grained mouldings. c.1720
The introduction of the cabriole leg meant that stands as well as chairs had to have the new fashion, which was unfortunate for chests are heavy, the cabriole form is not even as strong as turning and walnut is not the strongest of woods. Add to this the addiction of furniture beetles for solid walnut and it is not surprising that after 250 years of varied treatment many legs have broken. All stands should be carefully checked. Note that tops are not veneered.
A quality walnut chest on stand. It appears here with cabriole legs which have rather effete shells on the knee. The contrast between the heavy William and Mary chest and stand and the rather thin legs raises doubts. It would look a great deal happier with a turned leg stand supported by flat stretchers like 336.
c. 1715
A fine small solid walnut chest on stand with original brasses and a nicely shaped apron to the stand. The small slightly stumpy cabriole legs and the deep moulding at the join of chest and stand give it a pleasantly robust, country look. The drawer edges have an ovolo lip moulding. The walnut is heavy and dense-grained. Thought to be from the slow growing northern areas, possibly Cumbria. c.1730
An oak chest on stand incorporating a secretaire drawer. Note the well-proportioned legs ending in the typically English pad foot, and the elaborately scrolled apron to the stand. The drawers have a lip mould which overlaps the carcase edge and they are cross-banded with walnut. The secretaire interior is a very pleasant design with elegant applied pillars flanking the central door. 1730-1750
A good quality chest of well matched walnut veneers with good grain and pleasant ripple effect. The base is a bit heavy (can one see here the move towards the chest on chest). The legs are replacements and are of a design sometimes known as Hackney Road after the main area of their production. c. 1725

CHESTS  on turned stands
The distinction between chests on stands and chests which merely had bun feet to support them is that broadly speaking apart from the round holes for the buns at the four corners of the bottom of the chest, the former did not have veneered tops while the latter did. Our ancestors were shorter and it seems that as long as the chest had a stand which lifted it by about two feet or more there was no need to veneer the top. Chests with newly veneered tops are those which have either lost their stands altogether or have lost their feet (normally replaced by oversize buns) which exposes the top to view. Obviously chests on stands should have no bun holes. Clearly 337 (assuming the stand were original) would be much happier on the type of legs supporting 336. The thin flat stretchers should be veneered on the top and normally on the front edges. The same general rule applies for replacement legs as given for bureaux on stands, viz where stands or legs have been replaced, the value is reduced drastically, if badly done, by over 50%.
A marquetry chest on stand incorporating oyster veneers. The design is similar to 334 but the spirally-turned stand of five legs joined by a curved flat stretcher on bun feet is the more usual for this design, which is frequently found in figured walnut. The stand has a single drawer. Very often the turned legs may have been removed due to damage and the chest is modified to sit on bun feet.
A similar walnut chest on stand with ‘thumbnail’ top edge moulding and rather bulbous turned legs. Again a design frequently found without the turned legs and with the single drawer stand mounted on bun feet due to damage. Stand looks particularly suspect.
A large walnut chest with burr veneer mounted on a shaped stand showing typical ogee curves to the edge of the apron. The faceted legs look a little slender for the size of chest but the robust stretcher of elaborate design is veneered on the top surface with the same walnut burr veneer as the rest of the piece.
A simpler walnut chest on stand with matched veneers on the drawer fronts. There is a diagonal cross-band veneer to the drawers and double-D moulding to the carcase edges. The turned legs are perhaps a trifle heavy, with rather modern-looking tapered central sections.
A walnut chest on a stand which has lost its legs and been resettled on large bun feet. The difference in the figure of the walnut veneer of the chest, which is close-figured with plenty of curl, and the stand, which is straighter grained, leads to the conclusion that the chest and stand did not start out in life together.