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Hi I recently found this Chippendale style desk. The only date I can find is written on the side of one of the document drawers in French. The translation seems to be "The desk by Chevalier cabinet maker born in 1826. I was hoping that was the date of the desk not when the maker was born. Help dating it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, ChrisAttachment 15148Attachment 15149Attachment 15150Attachment 15151Attachment 15152
You can't date a piece with general photo shots, you have to get detailed pictures of the interior and how the joinery is done. Photos like this, all over the piece just gets you started on determining origin. Construction tells the story.
Attachment 15153
If you are looking for valuation, it won't be much. That piece has been re-finished and is too glossy, it has repair areas on it / is damaged and is veneered, not solid wood. The base appears to have been replaced with the wrong leg, but one that was simple to make. Whomever did the hack repair and re-finish on it didn't bother to replace the brads on the escutcheons with brass nails, they just used zinc galvanized hardware store ones. The desk is a mess, sorry. To me, that desk would not be worth even $ 100, all the bad work done to it would bother me every single day of ownership and its not worth putting the correct base back on it. Just because it may be old doesn't mean its valuable, this is classic case of a desk that was probably nice at one point, but has been ruined with poor repair work.
I'm not looking for a value I just want to know how old it is.