What's the difference between a coffer and a blanket box?

In practice the words overlap. "Coffer" tends to be used for the earlier oak chests, plank or panelled, and appears in 407 titles. "Blanket box" is the general term for a lidded chest kept in a bedroom or hall, and appears in 522. The same chest could carry either name depending on the dealer writing the title. Reading the timber and construction in the description tells you more than the noun does.

Which wood are these usually made from?

Oak leads, in 506 titles, followed by pine in 298. Elm, camphor wood, mahogany, walnut and a scattering of satinwood, padouk and teak make up the rest. Oak carries the panelled and carved coffers. Pine carries the Victorian boxes, often painted, scumbled or stripped.

How old can a blanket chest be?

The dealers' dated field runs from 1680 to 1940 across the listings that carry a clean year. Title attributions reach further, with sixteenth-century Tudor and Elizabethan claims at one end and 1930s oak at the other. One sampled title claims a late fifteenth-century Gothic coffer in oak and elm. It is the only pre-1500 attribution anywhere in the evidence, so medieval dating isn't a real segment of this market.

Are these only English?

No. Origins outside Britain form a steady minority: Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Flemish, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Romanian, Alpine, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Zanzibari, Canadian and American pieces all appear. Swedish painted chests and Chinese camphor wood turn up most often among them.

Do people use blanket chests as something else?

Often, and dealers say so in the title. Twenty-two titles offer the chest as a coffee table. Others are listed as a TV stand, hall seat, window seat or fireside bin. The low, flat-lidded forms take to it most easily.

Who made antique blanket chests?

Names are almost absent from this category. A scan of 1,290 listings turned up no maker or workshop attributions at all, which is unusual for a furniture form. What dealers name instead is a region. Welsh appears in 36 titles, and Yorkshire, Lakeland, Lancashire, Dorset, Westmorland, West Country and North Country coffers all surface in the samples.

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Antique Blanket Chests

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A lidded chest with a hinged top, made to store and carry blankets, linen and valuables long before the chest of drawers took over the job.

18th century

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Antique Large Georgian Oak Mule Chest | 18th Century

From ActFurniture LTD

£585

FOR SALE

chests

18th century

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Large 18th-century Oak Mule Chest with Drawers and Hidden Storage

From Steven Swann Antiques

£395

FOR SALE

chests

19th century

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Military Camphor Chest

From Gaylords Antiques

£1,250

FOR SALE

chests

Antique Charles II West Yorkshire Inlaid Oak Coffer C.1680

17th century

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Antique Charles II West Yorkshire Inlaid Oak Coffer C.1680

From Founders Antiques

£1,250

FOR SALE

chests

17th century

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17thc. Oak “Six Plank” Coffer

From Piers Pisani Ltd Antiques and Furniture

£775

FOR SALE

chests

Vintage Faux Leather Studded Travel Trunk by Triumph

1900 - 1920

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Vintage Faux Leather Studded Travel Trunk by Triumph

From Elmgarden

£700

FOR SALE

chests

18th century

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Antique Iron Trunk 18th Century

From The Real Wood Furniture Company

£1,650

FOR SALE

chests

Late C17th / Early C18th Iron Strong-box or Chest , Probably German ,Nuremberg.

18th century

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Late C17th / Early C18th Iron Strong-box or Chest , Probably German ,Nuremberg.

From M Lees and Sons

£700

FOR SALE

chests

19th century

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Victorian Pine Kist / Blanket Box

From Sinclairs Antiques and Interiors

£225

FOR SALE

chests

17th century

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17th Century Carved Oak Coffer

From Elaine Phillips Antiques Ltd

£850

FOR SALE

chests

Regional names run through the titles on Sellingantiques. Welsh appears in 36, and Yorkshire, Lakeland, Westmorland, Dorset and West Country coffers all turn up too.

Antique Small 20th Century Oak Blanket Box | Dome Top Lid

1900 - 1920

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Antique Small 20th Century Oak Blanket Box | Dome Top Lid

From ActFurniture LTD

£365

FOR SALE

chests

1900 - 1920

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Small Size Oak Lid Box / Coffer

From James R Millington Antiques

£245

FOR SALE

chests

Antique 20th Century Carved Oak Blanket Box | Linenfold Panels

1900 - 1920

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Antique 20th Century Carved Oak Blanket Box | Linenfold Panels

From ActFurniture LTD

£295

FOR SALE

chests

17th century

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177cm 17th Century Italian Marriage Chest

From Graham Pickett

£895

FOR SALE

chests

18th century

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Good Late 17th / Early 18th Century Oak Coffer.

From Stalham Antique Gallery

£450

FOR SALE

chests

19th century

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19th Century Camphorwood Campaign Chest

From Abersoch Antiques

£550

FOR SALE

chests

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Antique Blanket Chests

Antique Large Georgian Oak Mule Chest | 18th Century

Large 18th-century Oak Mule Chest with Drawers and Hidden Storage

Military Camphor Chest

Antique Charles II West Yorkshire Inlaid Oak Coffer C.1680

17thc. Oak “Six Plank” Coffer

Vintage Faux Leather Studded Travel Trunk by Triumph

Antique Iron Trunk 18th Century

Late C17th / Early C18th Iron Strong-box or Chest , Probably German ,Nuremberg.

Victorian Pine Kist / Blanket Box

17th Century Carved Oak Coffer

Antique Small 20th Century Oak Blanket Box | Dome Top Lid

Small Size Oak Lid Box / Coffer

Antique 20th Century Carved Oak Blanket Box | Linenfold Panels

177cm 17th Century Italian Marriage Chest

Good Late 17th / Early 18th Century Oak Coffer.

19th Century Camphorwood Campaign Chest

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