What's the difference between military and campaign chests?

Nothing, in practice. Dealers use "military chest", "campaign chest" and "military campaign chest" for the same two-part travelling chest of drawers. "Campaign" on its own is the commonest of the three, turning up in around three titles out of five.

Which timbers turn up most often?

Mahogany and teak account for half the titles that name a timber, mahogany ahead at close to a third and teak at about a fifth. Camphor wood forms a third group of some size. After that it thins out fast: birch, fruitwood, pitch pine, pollard oak, cedar, yew, padouk and rosewood each appear only once or twice.

How old are most of these chests?

The dated field runs from 1750 to 1930, and half the listings carry a clean year rather than a period label. The largest single bucket is the vague "19th Century", followed by "Victorian". Among the decade dates, the 1850s and 1860s dominate, with the 1870s and 1880s behind them. Georgian and Regency attributions form a thin early end.

Are secretaire versions common?

They're about one in seven of everything sold in the category, and running at roughly a quarter of current stock. They sit high in the range. The top-priced camphor and teak chests are almost all secretaires.

Do these chests carry maker or retailer names?

Rarely. Fewer than a dozen titles across the whole archive record a retailer or maker inscription, naming addresses in London, Dublin and Liverpool. No single name reaches three dealers, so this isn't a category read by maker. Where an inscription does appear, the chest sits in the upper part of the range.

Does the form ever appear as something other than a chest?

Once in a blue moon. A double military chest of drawers, a campaign tallboy, a pair of matching chests and a campaign style sideboard each appear a single time. Everything else is the two-part chest of drawers, occasionally in three tiers.

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Antique Military Chests

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A chest of drawers built to travel: two sections that lift apart, brass sunk into the handles and corners, and feet that come off for the wagon or the ship's hold.