# Furniture identification help needed **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102 "2012-10-28T02:57:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/1 "2012-10-28T02:57:08Z")
My wife inherited an old cabinet from her grandmother. It’s quite an odd style, and we’d like to know more about it if possible. We have no idea how old it is, but it’s in the background of a family photo taken in the Forties. It’s a sort of dark grey-green color. Could some of you furniture-knowledgeable types take a look at these photos and let me know your thoughts? Style? Where built? **Mrs R** would appreciate any light you could shed. [Overall view](http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z256/hilbyf/Cabinet/file.jpg) [Detail on the doors](http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z256/hilbyf/Cabinet/file-2.jpg) [Door hinge](http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z256/hilbyf/Cabinet/file-4.jpg) [Drawer detail](http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z256/hilbyf/Cabinet/file-5.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![goldmund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a4c791/32.png) [@goldmund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldmund)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/2 "2012-10-28T18:25:55Z")
Are there any possibly identifying marks on the back, or the bottom? I’m no furniture expert, but managed to identify a couple pieces for my dad this way, with the help of Google. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/3 "2012-10-28T18:35:38Z")
It looks like an alter for deities. Where was it manufactured? ---
**Author:** ![getitrite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@getitrite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/getitrite)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/4 "2012-10-28T19:36:49Z")
My best quess is english, queen ann stile legs, possible a spice or tea cabnet, does the lock work? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/5 "2012-10-28T19:42:16Z")
> [@getitrite](#): > > My best quess is english, queen ann stile legs, possible a spice or tea cabnet, does the lock work? Those aren’t Queen Anne style legs. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/6 "2012-10-28T19:51:58Z")
How about an interior view? ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/7 "2012-10-28T19:53:05Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > It looks like an alter for deities. Where was it manufactured? R’yleh, the tag on the bottom says 😉 No, seriously, there don’t seem to be any tags, hence my asking here. I think the darn thing’s as ugly as sin, but **Mrs R** likes it, so… We use it to store china in. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/8 "2012-10-28T20:07:57Z")
If the drawer fronts and doors are solid, not veneer, it probably pre-dates the Depression. That’s all I know. The wood looks like maple; that was a lesser status wood. It looks American, mid-Atlantic to me, 19th century. The drawer pulls don’t match the hinges, do they? Do those pieces on either side of the drawer pull out? ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/9 "2012-10-29T04:11:03Z")
> [@j666](#): > > It looks American, mid-Atlantic to me, 19th century. The drawer pulls don’t match the hinges, do they? Nope, not at all. > [@j666](#): > > Do those pieces on either side of the drawer pull out? No, they’re just decorative “columns” glued on the front. ---
**Author:** ![Jennmonkye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/278dde/32.png) [@Jennmonkye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennmonkye)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/10 "2012-10-30T00:28:05Z")
I’d call it an American (assuming it’s in America) Aesthetic Movement cabinet if I were tagging it in my store…but I’d also have someone else take a look at it to confirm that with me. It’s a bit more primitive than the pieces I’ve seen, but it bears a nice resemblance to them in general. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/11 "2012-10-30T00:51:25Z")
It could well be American, but my first thought was Scandinavian or possibly German painted furniture. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/12 "2012-10-30T01:25:58Z")
I had another look at the cabinet and there’s a mostly torn-off white paper sticker on the back, originally maybe 2x2, that says: …RLINGTON, IO… D249 There’s also a large stencilled number on the back: “249 WAL”. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/13 "2012-10-30T01:35:02Z")
[List of furniture companies in Burlington, Iowa](http://www.burlington.lib.ia.us/genealogy/furniture.htm). This is from the local library, and offers further links that might help you identify the manufacturer, year, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/14 "2012-10-30T02:03:09Z")
After poking around on the Internet, I wonder if it might not be a Northwestern Cabinet Company piece. The Burlington, Iowa library has a little page on Burlington furniture companies: [http://www.burlington.lib.ia.us/genealogy/furniture.htm](http://www.burlington.lib.ia.us/genealogy/furniture.htm) …including an index to Northwestern catalogs: [http://www.burlington.lib.ia.us/genealogy/northwesterncabinet.htm](http://www.burlington.lib.ia.us/genealogy/northwesterncabinet.htm) Some of the Northwestern items have model numbers starting with D–although D249 is not in the index. And I fancy some similarities to this Northwestern piece, or maybe I’m fooling myself: [http://www.burlington.lib.ia.us/genealogy/furniture%20images/nwc226.jpg](http://www.burlington.lib.ia.us/genealogy/furniture%20images/nwc226.jpg) What do you guys think? Edit: Ah, **Lacunae** , I missed your post while I was surfing! ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/17 "2012-12-07T14:30:52Z")
Peculiar is the word for it. And the color doesn’t go with anything. 🙂 My wife thinks it might have been bought during the 20s or 30s. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/18 "2012-12-07T14:34:43Z")
Reported the post by “ **eamonflannigan** ” as spam. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furniture-identification-help-needed/639102/19 "2012-12-07T14:37:37Z")
I really like it, too. I have seen pieces like these converted to stereo cabinets. If you don’t care whether or not it’s worth anything, paint it whatever color you want to match your decor. In my family, we have a behemoth of an old china cabinet that my mother “antiqued” green and gold during her “I must antique every piece of furniture!” phase. It served as a sewing/craft supply cabinet. Now my sister has it and she actually uses it for a china cabinet (and constantly bitches about how ugly it is! I’d talk her out of it if I could figure out how to transport it.)