What is the most common form?

The Victorian mahogany-framed box ottoman. Ottoman appears in 50 of the 244 titles, with upholstered, stool and leather turning up alongside it. Trunks run it close, named in 57 titles, so a flat or metal-bound travelling case is the other likely encounter.

How old are these chests?

The dated field runs from 1750 to 1930, with 88 listings carrying a clean year. The earliest are a pair of George II brass-banded trunks and a Dutch East Indies trunk, all placed at 1750. Nearly half the archive is bracketed by reign or century instead. "19th Century" is the biggest single label, then "Georgian" and "Victorian". One title claims a 17th-century Portuguese colonial chest, sitting outside that 1750 floor and at the top of the range.

Are mule chests always mahogany?

Not in this group. The Lancashire mule chest recurs in six titles, and several of those pair oak carcases with mahogany crossbanding. Mule means the construction rather than the timber: a lift-lid chest with drawers built into the base.

Do any carry maker's names or dates?

Names don't come through in this evidence. Titles are all there is, and no maker clears any useful threshold. Inscribed dates are almost as scarce. Two muniment or deed chests are stamped 1844, and those are the only dates cut into a piece anywhere in the archive.

What are tool chests doing in this category?

Cabinet maker's and master shipwright's chests turn up repeatedly, mahogany-cased with fitted interiors. They're a small pocket, but a consistently high-placed one. Several are advertised with their tool sets still in them, one with at least 165 woodworking tools.

How many come up for sale each year?

Around 20 a year on Sellingantiques, drawn from 103 different dealers across the archive. That spread says something about the category: almost no dealer specialises in mahogany chests, and almost every dealer handles one sooner or later.

Home > Chests > Mahogany Chests > Page 2

Antique Mahogany Chests

45 items · page 2 of 3

← Page 2 of 3 →

A lidded mahogany case for storing, sitting on or carrying, from upholstered box ottomans and brass-bound travelling trunks to mule chests, blanket boxes and sarcophagus cellarettes.