How to date old furniture?

[Ann Mary]

I have inherited and old set of dressers and would like to know roughly how old they may be. They are tiger oak, beveled mirrors and have wooden rollers...and the rollers are all still whole and round! I'm thinkin' the wooden rollers may be the key to to dating them??? Any ideas? Thanks!

[BethW]

I'm no expert, but tiger oak is typically late Victorian. Any chance you could post a picture?

[Shadow]

First look at the corners of the drawers how are they constructed, dove tails is good., If they are all very uniform and evenly spaced that is one thing if not perfectly spaced even better., waiting for the infro and that will tell us where to go to from here,

[clovis]

Curved front? Ornate decoration? Plain? Veneer surface? Solid wood?

Without a picture, it is kind of like saying "I have an old car with rubber tires and glass windows. How old is it?"

Clove

[Yvonne's hubby]

Old furniture is fairly easy to date, just be yourself, be polite, buy a couple drinks and most important, respect them in the morning.

[clovis]

I forgot to mention that your library should have several books on the different periods of furniture.
Clove

[Wags]

Originally Posted by Yvonne's hubby

Old furniture is fairly easy to date, just be yourself, be polite, buy a couple drinks and most important, respect them in the morning.

I was thinking the exact same thing...

[Maura]

If you take a picture of the dresser from the front, as well as one from the back, and an open drawer, an antique dealer who moves furniture may be able to tell you.

[Ann Mary]

Humm....I guess the wood tiny rollers aren't much help after all. It was at the 'youngest' my great grandmothers....placing it at least late 1800's-early 1900. It has dove tailed drawers, veneer, and it is not curved. Probably the 'plain' furniture of its day. Thanks everyone. I will see what the library has for info. (I had a picture in photobucket but it has vanished and it would take about 15 minutes to reload it)

[clovis]

Ann-
I am going to guess you are right about the dating. The wood rollers could be a misnomer. I bought a box of hardware from an estate that included a brand new, never used set of wood rollers. While they could be original, they could have also been added in the past 25 years.
Clove

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Find an old Sears catalog - one of the reprints from the turn of the century. Good chance you will find the piece of furniture pictured there.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by YuccaFlatsRanch

Find an old Sears catalog - one of the reprints from the turn of the century. Good chance you will find the piece of furniture pictured there.

Yup, from the sound of it, it sure sounds like it should be in that 1902 sears and roebucks catalog that was reprinted and circulated a few years back. It should be in there for around 10 bucks or so.

[Chas in Me]

Originally Posted by Yvonne's hubby

Old furniture is fairly easy to date, just be yourself, be polite, buy a couple drinks and most important, respect them in the morning.

Too funny!