What is the difference between a coffer and a mule chest?

A coffer is the plain lidded box. A mule chest adds one or two drawers in the base, so you get storage under the lid and drawer space below. Mule appears in 277 titles, about one in nine. Many are described as Georgian, often with two drawers.

Why do so many listings say coffer instead of chest?

Coffer is the standard trade word for this form and it sits in 1,645 of 2,359 titles on Sellingantiques. Blanket box, bedding box and kist cover much of the rest, with blanket alone in 220 titles. Searching on one word only will cut out a large part of the category.

How old are most oak coffers on the market?

The dated field runs from 1597 to 1940, and the middle two centuries do most of the work: 626 listings filed as 18th century, 617 as 17th. Around them sit looser labels, Georgian, 19th Century, Before 1700, Victorian. A 20th-century group of plain oak blanket boxes runs to 1940.

What is a coffer bach?

It's the Welsh name for a small chest, sometimes raised on its own stand. Welsh appears in 132 titles and bach in 88, with spellings shifting between coffer bach, coffor bach and coffr bach. South Wales and Montgomeryshire both turn up as attributions.

Are the dates carved on some chests part of the title?

Only 34 titles use the word dated, and the carved years that appear include 1643, 1658, 1670 and 1678. Those pieces sit almost entirely at the top of the range. A carved year and a named region together are the two things that lift a listing furthest.

Does the listed date always match the title?

Not always. The samples show a "17th century Oak Coffer" filed under 16th Century and a George II piece filed under Regency. Title and dated field are worth reading together, since many entries are vague by nature rather than precise.

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Antique Oak Chests

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A lidded oak storage chest, listed almost always as a coffer, built to hold linen, bedding, grain, documents and plate before fitted cupboards and chests of drawers took over.