Hand-cut dovetailing was the default until 1860 when uniform machine-cut joints were introduced. But fine cabinetmakers persisted in fitting their joints by hand until the early 1900s, and cabinetmakers in Europe cut dovetails by hand well into the 1930s.
Hand-cut dovetails. Hand-cut dovetails indicate the furniture was made during the 19th century or before – as long as other clues don't point to a more recent time period. Hand-cut dovetails are the oldest and are usually easy to identify.
Basically, with the dovetail shape of the tails, the tails have an inherent weak spot at their narrow base. If the wood were to fail, this is where it would fail. Of course, you can always make the tails bigger, but then the pins will fail. Box joints don't need to make that sort of compromise.
You can get an idea of the date of a piece of antique furniture by looking at the dovetail joint, as if it is hand cut you know its pre 1880 and the more primitive the cut usually means an earlier piece. Below you can see examples, the first is a 17th century drawer, pre dovetail so very primitive clout nails used.
Search for any labels, stamps or manufacturing tags underneath or on the back of furniture, or in the drawers. These marks will be able to tell you who made the furniture, where it was manufactured and often the year that it was made.
A few experts say that anything between the ages of twenty to ninety-nine makes a piece vintage or anything between the years 1900s to the end of the 1960s. But there are no official regulations on what number makes an item worthy of being vintage.
The other was the Knapp joint which is characterized by a distinctive scallop and peg design used primarily between about 1880 and 1900 (Fig. 22). Machined dovetails, though, ultimately became the joint of choice and are still used in most wood case furniture today (Fig.
Hand-cut dovetailing was the default until 1860 when uniform machine-cut joints were introduced. But fine cabinetmakers persisted in fitting their joints by hand until the early 1900s, and cabinetmakers in Europe cut dovetails by hand well into the 1930s.
Dovetail drawer boxes offer exceptional durability and a distinctive appearance, making them a popular choice for high-end kitchens.
While both English and French dovetail construction are very sturdy and high quality, English dovetail construction is slightly sturdier with the trade-off of being more expensive and time-consuming to produce.
Whether creating your kitchen from scratch or replacing your cabinets, dovetail construction is the best way to invest in high-quality construction that will last for years. Dovetail joints offer unmatched strength and quality and are the sign of a high-quality cabinet.
When used in drawer construction, a "stopped sliding dovetail" that does not extend across the full width of the board is sometimes referred to as a "French dovetail". Used for: Joining shelves to cabinet sides. Joining cabinet bottoms to sides.
Period 1930s furniture have heavy lines, graphic symmetry, and repeated patterns on upholstery prints and decorative elements like table legs and drawer pull. The motifs usually have natural elements with somewhat unnatural preciseness, like perfectly symmetrical sunbursts.
Furniture factories were a cheap investment primarily because they were not highly mechanized and did not require large numbers of workers. Jamestown furniture was made entirely by hand until 1837, when the first crude, water – driven equipment came into use.
One of the primary reasons old chests of drawers were equipped with locks was for security. These chests were often the storehouses of valuable items such as jewelry, cash, important documents, or any other personal items that the owners wanted to keep safe.
The most expensive piece of furniture ever sold at auction is The Badminton Chest, a huge, lavishly decorated piece of Italian craftsmanship, which sold for a whopping £19m at Christie's London in 2004. The monumental cabinet was commissioned by Henry Somerset, 3rd Duke of Beaufort in 1726.
She adds, “By definition, an antique is an item that is 100 years old or older.” Whether it's a book, vase, glassware, or a piece of furniture, the 100-year-old rule of thumb remains the same.
Vintage items are much younger than antiques. These pieces are typically defined as being at least 20 years old but less than 100 years old. The term "true vintage" is a sub-category for items that are at least 50 years old.
If a joint was dovetailed by hand, it has only a few dovetails, and they aren't exactly even; if it has closely spaced, precisely cut dovetails, it was machine-cut. Handmade dovetails almost always indicate a piece made before 1860.
Harden Furniture (officially Harden Furniture, Inc.) was a privately owned furniture manufacturer based in McConnellsville in Oneida County, New York. It has been the oldest furniture manufacturer in the United States. McConnellsville, New York, U.S.
Make sure to search for labels, stamps, or manufacturing tags that can tell when and where a piece was made. Furniture companies and makers often listed their names, locations, and year of production This information can be found on the inside of drawers, the backs of bureaus, and on the lower edges of pieces.
Knapp joints are known by many names – Pin & Crescent, Pin & Scallop, Pin & Cove, Half Moon and Scallop & Dowel. It is a series of semi-circles with a hole in the middle cut into the drawer side that match negative semi-circles with integral pegs in the ends of the drawer front.
Prices for a pin and cove can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — at 1stDibs, they begin at $900 and can go as high as $16,500, while the average can fetch as much as $2,975.
The mortise and tenon joint is an ancient joint. One of the earliest mortise-tenon structure examples dates back 7,000 years to the Hemudu culture in China's Zhejiang Province.