GUIDE TO DATING ANTIQUE FURNITURE
How to Determine the Age of an Antique Piece of Furniture
There are various things to look for on a piece of furniture when trying to determine its age and period.A. Drawer Construction, Details, and Tool Marks
17th Century DrawersIn the first half of the 17th century fairly crude dovetails were introduced. (Dovetails are the triangular joints which slot together on the corners of drawers.)
During the second half of the 17th and early 18th century the number of dovetails in drawers increased, but they remained fairly crude and large.
Until the late 1600s handmade dowels or pegs held the mortise-and-tenon joints together and were slightly raised above the joints.
Until middle of 17th Century, drawers had bearers fixed to their sides which ran in grooves (side runners). Drawers never reached the back boards leaving a space for ventilation.
18th Century Drawers
Drawer linings were made of oak until the middle of the 18th century. Glue was used on dovetailed joints. These types of joints became more refined throughout the 1700s and the first half of the 1800s.
Bottom drawers were made from 2 or 3 pieces of the same wood and grooved to form bottom runners. Good quality drawers had oak sides with the top edges rounded.
About 1710 the ovolo lip molding appeared hiding the gap between the drawer and the carcase edge.
Ovolo Lip MoldingA stop was added at the back of the drawer to prevent the lip from being broken off.
Until 1770, grain in bottom boards ran from front to back. After 1770, the grain ran from side to side, often with a central bearer for extra support. No center drawer exactly fit the space between the front and back. A space was always left for ventilation.
19th Century Drawers
Corner moldings on drawers were introduced by Sheraton, dating those pieces after 1799.
Victorians made bottom boards from one piece of wood, usually screwed to the sides.
1871-1905 was the era of the Knapp Joint, which was a Pin and Crescent Drawer Joint that was the first known mechanization for making drawers in the industrial revolution age, replacing the hand cut dovetails. By 1900 a machine-made dovetail joint was perfected, completely replacing the Knapp Joint.
Tool Marks - The wood for furniture pieces was hand sawn until the beginning of the 1800s. Unfinished pre-1830 boards cut from vertical motion "ripsaws" will often display small, somewhat parallel, straight saw lines. After that most wood was cut with a circular saw and any saw marks will be circular.
Before the introduction of power driven woodworking machinery in the mid 19th century, lumber was worked by hand. After hand-sawing, cabinet makers dressed their boards with a jack plane and draw knives. On authentic furnishings pre-dating the "Victorian Period," (1850-1910) unfinished non-visible "secondary" surfaces like backboards and drawer bottoms will show evidence of "hand-planing" by feeling for subtle undulating rows in the wood.
Antique dowels are non-round and will protrude slightly from the surface because of shrinkage in the wood they are securing. Machine era pins will be perfectly circular and flush to the surface.
BEWARE – IF:
— Dovetailing in all drawers do not match.
— Handles have been moved or changed. Check reverse of front for filled holes.
— Dovetails at back of drawer show signs of alteration, the drawer has probably been reduced in depth.
— You find one replacement, alteration or restoration....look for others.
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B. Handles and Pulls
l & 2. 1660-1710 Brass Drops - mostly used on oak and walnut furniture with the handle on these pulls linked to a double strip of brass or iron which passed through the drawer front and was then split and turned over so that each end was pinned to the drawer back in opposing vertical senses. Reproductions have a threaded spigot with a nut to secure it.
3 & 4. In 1690 Brass Loop Handles with Solid Back Plates appeared. The back plate was shaped and could be engraved , and the loop was cast and perhaps molded, Brass knob-shaped sockets on the face of bolts held the loop ends.
5 & 6. In l710 Pierced Back Plates were introduced and showed many forms. Both walnut and later mahogany furniture used the solid and pierced back plates.
7. In 1740 the 'Swan-Neck' appeared. In this type the loop is thicker and there are merely two metal molded circular roses behind each bolt head, without any back plate. It was an antique furniture handle type capable of considerable ornamentation, as shown in illustration 8. The later fine quality pieces (after 1750) had very Rococo forms of this in cast and chased metal mostly found on commodes.
8. 1750 – Rocco Style handles in cast and chased metal.
3 & 4. In 1690 Brass Loop Handles with Solid Back Plates appeared. The back plate was shaped and could be engraved , and the loop was cast and perhaps molded, Brass knob-shaped sockets on the face of bolts held the loop ends.
5 & 6. In l710 Pierced Back Plates were introduced and showed many forms. Both walnut and later mahogany furniture used the solid and pierced back plates.
7. In 1740 the 'Swan-Neck' appeared. In this type the loop is thicker and there are merely two metal molded circular roses behind each bolt head, without any back plate. It was an antique furniture handle type capable of considerable ornamentation, as shown in illustration 8. The later fine quality pieces (after 1750) had very Rococo forms of this in cast and chased metal mostly found on commodes.
8. 1750 – Rocco Style handles in cast and chased metal.
9. In 1780 Stamped Brass Back Plate of oval or circular form associated with Hepplewhite or Sheraton furniture came into use.. This antique furniture hardware would be made from thin sheet brass, stamped to shape and hence hollow at the back.
10. In 1800 Turned Wooden Knob came into use and, although there was a period of overlap, by the time the Victorian period had set in, most drawer furniture used wooden knobs of varied simplicity or complication. Some had a simple wooden spigot to fit into the drawer front; some had a wooden threaded screwed spigot; some had a metal bolt set into them. Unfortunately the Victorians considered that the wooden knob was so desirable that they could not resist fitting it to furniture from other periods with the result that walnut and early mahogany chests in thousands have been despoiled.
11. 1880 and forward it was necessary to return to Brass Furniture Handles again, although wooden knobs continued to be fitted to ordinary furniture. This shows a late Victorian version of a brass loop and back plate fitted to a 'reproduction' of an eighteenth century piece.
12. Art Nouveau Handles had stamped back plates as it was fitting for the 'simple' furniture of the period which strived to return to medieval simplicity of lines.
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1790-l830 - "Square head nails" were common. They were machine cut and finished off by a blacksmith, generally squaring the heads.
1830 to 1890 - Cabinetmakers used headless, machine cut nails, tapered and rectangular in shape.
Around 1890, more modernly used nails, brad, penny, or wire nails, were introduced. Screws were used from time to time and before the machine era.
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10. In 1800 Turned Wooden Knob came into use and, although there was a period of overlap, by the time the Victorian period had set in, most drawer furniture used wooden knobs of varied simplicity or complication. Some had a simple wooden spigot to fit into the drawer front; some had a wooden threaded screwed spigot; some had a metal bolt set into them. Unfortunately the Victorians considered that the wooden knob was so desirable that they could not resist fitting it to furniture from other periods with the result that walnut and early mahogany chests in thousands have been despoiled.
11. 1880 and forward it was necessary to return to Brass Furniture Handles again, although wooden knobs continued to be fitted to ordinary furniture. This shows a late Victorian version of a brass loop and back plate fitted to a 'reproduction' of an eighteenth century piece.
12. Art Nouveau Handles had stamped back plates as it was fitting for the 'simple' furniture of the period which strived to return to medieval simplicity of lines.
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C. Nails
Furniture made prior to 1790 will include "rose-head nails"; hand crafted by blacksmiths; which can be identified by irregular, rose shaped heads. Other examples crafted by blacksmiths can be identified by checking for thin and slightly off centered slots and off-round heads. The outline and thickness on early hand-wrought iron and brass hinges will be non-uniform as well.1790-l830 - "Square head nails" were common. They were machine cut and finished off by a blacksmith, generally squaring the heads.
1830 to 1890 - Cabinetmakers used headless, machine cut nails, tapered and rectangular in shape.
Around 1890, more modernly used nails, brad, penny, or wire nails, were introduced. Screws were used from time to time and before the machine era.
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