Posted 9 years ago
Mike1371
(4 items)
I need information on this chest if anyone has seen one like it please let me know what era it is from. It weighs around 200 pounds and is all wood except for the handles and the hinges on top that are metal.
Please give size.
41x16 and the inside is hight 15. The hight from the bottom of the feet to the top is 21
Still reserving opinion as there are a lot of fantasy items out there. It's not made for travel. I want to wait & see what our experts say.
Thank you, any information is greatly appreciated. And finding out the age is important to me since I would like to know a little about its history
Hey, I like the ceramics, vase & painting & think you should poste them next. What else are you hiding from us?
The ceramic is a capodimonte, the vase is makora and the painting is a print of chess games by Beda. I will get some pictures on here tomorrow since I'm getting ready to drive back to California shortly.
Mike , this is a cool piece,but from the pictures posted I don't think it is old . I do think it to be more of a fantasy piece. I can only go by the pictures posted. Interior pictures could tell us more about construction,I.E. Dove tail corners as opposed to-/nailed /doweled etc. the back side of fasteners could tell us many things,Are there rivets/nuts/nailed etc? Who Knows?. The hinge hardware has fasteners that are different in both size and color from the latch.Why? It appears someone was going for the old hammered forged iron look, but the color of the patina and thickness of metal doesn't appear to jive.Older wood tends to have more checking/splitting especially around the hardware fasteners and the wood carvings. It is hard to say with limited info. A cool piece fit for a knight in shining armor nonetheless.
I just put up a photo of the interior hopefully you can see a little better now. As for the hinge hardware looking different it's because those are pads that we're put on top for glass to rest on.The previous owner had a piece made to make use out of the chest.
What type heads on screws? Can you take one out & examine the threads to see if they are handmade?
They seem to be I don't want to take anything apart that is on it since it's held together so well. Two screws on the back are newer and we're put on about five years ago since the originals fell out. I can tell the metal fastener holding the handles on were hand made and all the dovetail joints seem to be hand made as well. The crest on the right side is a rampant lion I'm guessing from England/Scotland and the closest castle I could find for the symbol on the other side is of Gibraltar??? The origins and time frame are the most important thing for me to figure out since this is the first time I have ever seen something crafted like this.
I am a firm believer in finding comparable items when trying to date items, I have searched a little. Nothing comparable really comes up. If you goggle : antique coffers/chest images 1300s, 1400s, 1500s,1600s, 1700s you will find nothing comparable from any of these time periods.You may see a few renaissance period gothic arches, but I suspect this to be more of a modern piece, lets say sometime during 1900s Just a wild guess! (Neat chest Though).Important to note that there are overseas companies in China / Indonesia that have been flooding the U.S. Market with so called Rare Antique furniture made to look old.This could be the case. Some are quite convincing. When you search You will also note that none of the older coffer images contain colors, red blue etc. or the colored pickled finish.Look at the coloration of hardware as well.There are telling signs or age in the wood for older peices end grain splitting and checking for one. Hope this helps a little.
Drill, you just summed up my impressions. Shame though, as it is such a beautiful piece & still is.
Ok Mike1371 BB2 searched some more , Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. And someone is always trying to imitate something(except this thing ,very unique).It also must be from somewher . So the gothic motif arches are seen on renaissance coffers 14th to 16th century (Spanish and Italian). I did finally find color/carvings and I believe the feet of this beast of a "Cassone" (Thats what I'm now calling it, the closest I can get.)When I searched under "Italian renaissance Cassone" and tons of carving comes up. The closest I can come to the hardware is searching goggle: under "Spanish chest images". The top wood thickness/bend/gouging is a complete mystery ,the closest I can get is under "Viking chest."A completly different animal! What throws everything into a tailspin is the English/ Scottish crest and gibraltar Conclusion-A Cassone that can't decide where it wants to be from -It's damn a Hybrid. Your right BB2 it is a beutiful piece
I really appreciate you guys helping me with this research the most i honestly know for sure about it is that the last owner (who is very well off) of it bought it at an auction in Hawaii back in 1961 for $700 other than that i can only speculate. The entire thing is built very well with no signs of modern tools or equipment being used. And like you both said there is nothing like it on the internet and thats the same thing the guy I got it from said "you wont ever find anything like it'' and hes right about that. Ill keep looking around and let you all know if I ever find anything else out. Thanks again for all the leads.
in your professional opinions do you believe it is possible for this to be an authentic chest from an early era or are the chances not in my favor? would the maker usually sign these chests when they were made because I dont see any signature other than some markings on the crest that are not english letters you can see it in the posted picture
also the rampant lion on it threw me off because they are usually facing to the left but that is when they are attacking, i read when they faceto the right or ''sinister'' they are defending. leading me to believe this is facing right because it is defending the contents of the chest.
kosnigwinter has a symbol with both the castle and the rampant lion and the chests I see have some similarities
http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/palazzo_davanzati.html look at the chest this meuseum has, scroll to the bottom
I am truly hoping this is the real thing. We collectors have probably all had things that we wanted to believe was real so much that we would argue against proof to the contrary to what we want to hear. I also agree that I don't see the right aging in the wood. Hope I'm wrong, but can't give an honest opinion without personally viewing it.
Happy New Year!
Happy new year to you too, thanks for all of your help