Chest, Blanket

Description

Five-drawer blanket chest of white pine. All components except back are of single boards. Lid has molding braded on around three sides, which overlap box sides, and is hinged with two iron butt hinges. Two pine cleats are screwed to the inside of the lid to hold it in plane. Inside the blanket box, pine cleats and three basswood dividers have been added to create four unusual sized compartments. Also, a basswood lid support is affixed to the inside of the proper right end of the box. Drawers are lipped and dovetailed. Two banks of two half-width drawers are positioned above a shallow full-width drawer. The half-width drawers have graduated depths, the lower drawers being deeper than those above. Cast steel pin pulls have been added; one per half-width and two on the full-width drawer. However, behind each bin pull is a 7/16" diameter holed for a turned over wood knob with an integral tenon. The partition between the half-width drawers is of solid white pine and its facing is dovetailed into the front of the blanked box above and into the bottom drawer rail below. Drawers rails themselves are half dovetailed into the carcase ends. The chest sits in a plinth base with mitered corners, molded top edge, and cut-outs with radiused ends to create feet. The chest is equipped with an ingenious drawer lock system consisting of two pine cleats with porcelain knobs for moving the cleats up or down through cut-outs in the back of the chest bottom. These cleats extend to the solid bottom of the chest and each has three sheet metal L-shaped brackets screwed to its face. When the cleat is pushed down, this bracket clips over the drawer back preventing the drawer from being opened. Since the chest is equipped a half-mortise chest lock and key, the drawers can be secured manually via the locking devices on either side from inside the chest, then the lid can be locked securing the entire chest. The chest is numbered 9101a and the chest key 9101b. This key has a tag labeled "Eld. Dorthea" and is stored in the key box with other artifact keys. All exterior surfaces of this object have a red wash with a clear coat of finish over them.