How many drawers should a Wellington chest have?

Seven is the count dealers name most often in titles, with six and eight the next most common. That's the standard column. The archive also holds chests described as four, five, nine, ten and twelve drawers. The twelves are both double-banked, with two stacks in one carcase.

What wood are they usually made from?

Mahogany leads, in 223 of 590 titles on Sellingantiques, followed by walnut in 131. Oak and rosewood come next. Beyond that core the timbers run to satin birch, birds eye maple, pollard oak, ash, Hungarian ash, yew, olive wood, satinwood, kingwood, pitch pine and teak, with Gonçalo Alves appearing once.

Are Wellington chests Victorian or Georgian?

Overwhelmingly Victorian. The word appears in 283 titles, and where decades are given they concentrate on the 1860s, 1880s and 1870s. A handful of titles claim Regency, George IV or William IV, and there's a thinner tail of Edwardian and early 20th-century chests. The dated field across the archive spans 1800 to 1930.

What is a secretaire Wellington chest?

One of the drawer fronts is hinged and falls forward to make a writing surface, with a fitted interior behind. Listings also call it a hinged fall or a locking flap. Forty-five titles carry the feature, and they sit toward the upper end of the range. Walnut and mahogany are the timbers named most with it.

Why is it called a Wellington chest?

The name attaches to the Duke by tradition. There's no documented commission behind it. The form itself is 19th-century English, built for secure storage of papers, coins, minerals and other small collections in a study or library.

Do miniature Wellington chests exist?

Yes, as a small steady strand. Twenty-one titles use 'miniature', and others describe table-top or dwarf chests meant to stand on furniture rather than the floor. One is described as an apprentice piece and two as children's chests. Sixteen more titles call the form a collectors chest, and several a specimen chest.

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Wellington Chest of Drawers

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A tall, narrow chest of shallow graduated drawers with a hinged pilaster down one side that locks the whole stack with a single key, made for storing papers, coins, minerals and other small collections in a study.