I found this dresser for a few dollars at a re-use center… but I think it is possibly a rare and valuable piece. I could very well be wrong, but I figured before I restored it or sold it, I would ask the yahoo community!

The dresser has 3 drawers on either side of a center door that covers 3 more basic drawers. Everything except for the bronze hinges on the center door and the bronze knobs on this piece is oak or maple wood. Even the frame of this dresser is made of some type of solid pine or oak. Every corner of every drawer is milled to fit exactly, without nails or glue.

The drawers are hand carved, the knobs are beautiful (continue reading), and the piece is just solid as a rock. Without the drawers, it probably weights between 200 and 300 pounds. It is made by Johnson-Carper, apparently this company no longer exists?

The middle section consists of 3 basic pull-out wood drawers and is covered by a single, side opening, oak paneled door, spanning from top to bottom. The paneling on the center door is made up of 5 panels, the middle 3 are each 3 1/4″ wide and the 2 outermost panels are 1 1/4″ wide. The top, bottom, center door, and 6 side drawers are all beautifully framed and exquisitely trimmed.

The two wider sets of 3 drawers on either side of the center door, are hand carved and almost resemble the french coat of arms spanning twice outwards in each direction from the center of the drawers.

On all 6 drawers as well as the center door, are circular bronze knobs with a braided edge. At the base of the knob on the center door, is a bronze circle with a curly-cued type of floral looking edge.

The top of this piece is a solid piece of (laminated???) oak with a slight beveled edge. The dresser top is joined to the dresser by an elegantly understated piece of trim. The trim on the bottom of this dresser is quite unique; a solid square then curved upwards into a thin but ornate strip of what resembles a mayan tribal design which is then curved upward again to a slight level, approximately an inch below the bottom of the side drawers and center door.

The same ornate tribal strip is reflected in the inner framing of the center door. The outer framing of the center door, like the outer framing on the drawers, is an elegant, multilayer-ed, outwardly inclining trim which declines in the same layered fashion about a 1/2 inch from the outer edge.

All of the side drawers as well as the center drawers (covered by the center door) are cornered/butted together like pieces to a puzzle. I know this is a sign of quality craftsmanship because the cedar drawers in my $3,000 dresser from restoration hardware are made the same way. The 6 hand carved side drawers might even be cedar, but I am not certain because the scent has probably been gone for decades now.

The dresser is 6′ wide, 20″ deep, and 30 1/4″ high. The 2 sets of 3 hand carved drawers on either side are 24 3/4 ” wide and about 7″ deep. The 3 center drawers are each 14″ wide and 7 1/2″ deep and are covered by the single center door. The center door is 16 1/2″ wide and 22 1/2″ high.

I am inclined to think that this piece is at least 40 years old because of the shiny (today considered tacky) finish on the top of the dresser, a finish that when this piece was made, I know was used on premium furniture.

When was this piece made?
Was it part of a collection?
How much is it worth?
Are there people who collect pieces like this?

Am I wasting my time, or did I find an incredibly rare and valuable piece?