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

Nothing, as the titles use them. Blanket box is the domestic-use name for the same lidded chest and appears in 151 titles. Coffer, chest and trunk are swapped in and out the same way. A single listing will often carry two of the four names together.

Which period do most coffers come from?

The 17th century is the single largest bucket at 655 listings, ahead of the 18th at 563 and well ahead of the 19th at 266. For furniture that's unusual, the oldest band being the biggest. The dated field spans 1580 to 1940, but only 481 of 2,549 listings carry a clean year. The rest are given as a century or a reign, and Georgian, 1700s and Before 1700 overlap with the century labels.

Are coffers always oak?

Oak appears in 1,728 of 2,549 titles, so it's the default. Elm, pine, walnut and camphor wood divide most of the remainder. Elm turns up in boarded chests alongside oak. Pine tends to be painted, and camphor belongs mainly to the travelling and steamer trunk group.

What is a Welsh coffer bach?

A small Welsh chest, often on turned feet. The word bach is in 87 titles, and coffor bach is a common alternative spelling. Welsh attributions run through the category more widely, with welsh in 118 titles. Some coffer bach listings frankly declare themselves later work made in an 18th-century style.

Do trunks count in this category?

Yes. Travelling, campaign and steamer trunks make up about a tenth of titles and are more prominent in what's currently listed than in what has sold. They come leather, hide, iron and brass-bound, some camphor wood, some zinc-lined or fitted inside.

How often do coffers come up for sale?

Around 271 are listed a year on Sellingantiques, and 281 different dealers have offered one. Almost every furniture dealer touches this category at some point. Most of that flow is English oak. Now and then something lands from far outside it, a Swat Valley dowry chest or a Moroccan leather-bound example, each appearing just once.

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Antique Coffers

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A coffer is a lidded storage chest, the basic box of the early modern house, used for linen, clothes, grain or valuables, and doubling as seating or a travelling container.