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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Grey Proctor, post: 426961, member: 5222&quot;]Hello! I happened across a dealer who just returned from a buying trip in Belgium and I fell in love with this piece. The dealer said it’s French and estimated it dates from the early 1900s. After getting it home I am starting to think it might date earlier than that. I was hoping some of you could tell me if my logic is correct or if this is, in fact, a 20th century piece.</p><p>The most obvious thing I noticed is that it’s entirely pegged construction, and the pegs are not round but pretty irregular (the nails look like they came from a later repair).</p><p>Also, the carving appears to be hand done, as it is not perfectly symmetrical and I found what looks like tool marks all over.</p><p>The biggest thing that suggest to me it’s older is the door itself. It is constructed using bow tie dovetails. The panel on the door has shrunk, however, and it looks like as a repair the dovetails on one side were cut through and a thin strip of wood added to fill the gap. What is interesting is it looks like the door continued to shrink after that, widening the gap even after the repair.</p><p>The dealer estimated early 1900 because the unfinished back of the piece was “too smooth,” suggesting later machine-planning was used. However, the bevels for those panels on the back are not even close to straight and I found what appears to be sawblade marks on the back, they are straight and not circular. I also pulled a screw from the door hinge looks like it might match an example from the early 1800s I found online.</p><p>So, thoughts? It certainly seems older than 20th century given the uneven bevels, uneven edges, the wood shrinkage, woodworm holes, and method of construction... but could I be mistaken? Is it possible this dates to the time of the actual gothic revival movement in France? I attached a few images, including the lock that might or might not be original and a look at the hand beveling on the back panel. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks!&nbsp; -Grey[ATTACH=full]149451[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]149452[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]149453[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]149454[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]149455[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]149456[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]149457[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]149458[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]149459[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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