Campaign chest of drawers, Age and wood type?

The inside of a marked Army & Navy campaign chest for comparison

 

You seem easily impressed by glib sales headlines. After visiting the site it appears he has some stunning period pieces of different descriptions and some 19thC Campaign furniture but a majority of the Campaign furniture is vintage around mid 20thC and repro from Harrods, REH Kennedy et al. And I quote: "R. E. H. Kennedy has been producing some of the finest traditional furniture available since 1948. The company is now led by Managing Director Russell Langham a highly skilled English Furniture Designer and Cabinet Maker who has over 45 years of industry knowledge & expertise.". Time to wake up and smell the coffee.

 

Turn the drawers upside down and let's have a look at the back edge profile. What are the drawer bottoms made of? Chamferred panels of the 18th/19thC? Central stretcher, another 20thC giveaway.

 

"I would implore members to go and have a look at this ebay seller who specialises in campaign furniture, they have 83 pieces and all the period pieces are clearly stated as such in the description"..........It's about time you had the coffee because if your going to quote me then please read what I've said

 

"The brass reinforcement/protection is quite unconvincing as far as 19thC Campaign chests go as those were made to withstand damage falling off the backs of mules over rough terrain" "The quarter-square beading in the drawers is also another common feature of early-mid 20thC English furniture"
I don't think I'll be taking what you say that seriously, I mean how hard was it to look it up?
If you don't know what youre talking about it's best to say nothing at all.....

 

Please look at what you are calling "Central stretcher, another 20thC giveaway" This is where the photo comes from.
https://www.vinterior.co/furniture/storage/chests-of-drawers/army-navy-campaign-chest

 

Chamfered

 

Like I said, you are easily taken in by glib sales pitches. If you read the small print below in the article description instead of being wowed by the "19thC Campaign Chest"headliner, you will see it described as "early 20thC". I'm done spending any more time on this. If and when the lift ever reaches the top floor, please let us know.

 

So you are now saying a marked army and navy chests aren't period? What about your flimsy strapping or Central stretcher 20th c claims or your own comment about chamfered drawer bottoms being 19th or 18th c. Your rude comments of "wake up and smell the coffee" and "If and when the lift ever reaches the top floor, please let us know" imply you know what your talking about but anyone reading this thread will see all you have done is make yourself look like you know nothing at all.
Instead of admitting you were mistaken you have continued to be condescending and rude, you have made a litany of mistakes and still you continue to act as you were right.

 

Thanks for the additional pictures. I can now see that this is not a plantation mahogany piece from Indonesia. The pine back and dust covers preclude this. I don't know enough about this type of chest to know if the vertical tongue and groove plank back is typical or not. Seems a bit odd to me, as it would be fairly heavy. I do see some wear to the case from drawer runners. The replaced drawer stops show some history.

I am having trouble determining saw marks. The photo of the drawer back seems to show some regular angled ones. I can not tell if they are wide circular or straight. At any rate, they are power driven. The chip-out seen on the surface is typical of a power plane and the regular vertical lines are from a power sander.

Your 8th picture shows the interior of the side being pine. Are the sides veneer? Again, seems like an odd choice for a piece that was going to see wear and tear. I also seem to see a screw recess that I assume attaches the top. Is there just the one? Do you think this original?

All in all, I see construction that is typical of late 19th century at the earliest. The overall clean condition leads me to believe it is more likely 20th century. Your comparisons on ebay are mostly not like yours. A few compare favorably. I have no idea how reputable this seller is. I will be the first to say that I am no expert in this type of furniture. I do have over 35 years experience with American antique furniture and can only comment on what I see. Just my 2 cents.

 

"the vertical tongue and groove plank back is typical or not" there are many types of back form full paneled to part paneled ie planks that go from top to bottom with thinker vertical planks to attach the thinner planks to, mine has 4 thick planks with thinner planks in between.
As for it being fairly heavy, the top, sides, and front are all made of 3/4 inch thick solid wood with a internal structure both bottom and top so it's a very heavy piece, thus not wanting to move it out into the middle of the room to photograph the back.
You wouldn't expect to see any saw marks on a English made piece of this age, they would have been planed out.
Not sure what you are talking about here "The photo of the drawer back seems to show some regular angles ones. I can not tell if they are wide circular or straight. At any rate, they are power driven." I can assure you nothing on this chest is "power" anything "The chip-out seen on the surface is typical of a power plane" again the tearout on the curvy grain you can see is from a hand plane, you can even see where the scrub plane was used by the across the grain marks.
"Your 8th picture shows the interior of the side being pine. Are the sides veneer?" No all solid wood and not pine, the camera flash playing tricks.
"I also seem to see a screw recess that I assume attaches the top. Is there just the one? Do you think this original?" Yup both screws and nails holding the top internal structure to the top as well as joinery.
Again you question "The overall clean condition" but this is very common in campaign chest because of the tight fitting drawers, in fact I will post a video of a fully marked campaign chest known to be early and you will see it almost looks new.
"comparisons on ebay" I will admit to find a chest like mine is hard but not impossible, later 19th c chests were made as one piece and didn't have handles on the sides because they came with their own painted pine over chest for transport, the handles would have got in the way when putting it back into the pine box for travel.
After doing loads of research for this thread I think I know more about campaign chests than I do about anglo-Indian antiques, I'm satisfied that the chest is between 1870-1890 in age, I know it's been fully refinished (something that may have lead to it being miss recognised in the first place) I suspect it had been in sunlight for many years and become bleached thus the need to fully refinish (both stain and polish) I have covered both reasons for it being one piece and the reason for no handles but I will post the video as we are all here to learn.

 

Update, the construction inside points to it being Irish and dating to George II and the locks date to 1760-1820 according to Google lens, last photo is of the underneath

 

Yes, it’s been awhile. I miss both of those vast storehouses of personality and knowledge.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. I put the update on as I really didn't know the date when starting this post, anybody researching one piece campaign chests might just find the update info useful.

 

I am sure they do.
It has been a roller coaster of a thread, with things that should never have been said, but I commend you for returning to the thread with this extra info, for clarity's sake.

I am not known for my stellar attention, but I don't remember AF weighing in. Adrian Lewis' avatar pic looks like AF's though, maybe that is it.

 

I know!