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Who made the drawers?

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  • Who made the drawers?

    My brother has just made a discovery on a very basic chest of drawers that have been in the family forever with various paint jobs changing their appearance over the years. When he started to strip the last 1970's paint job to bring it up to date he discovered a signature and date on the back of the top draw.

    Signature on chest of drawers.jpg

    My grandfather was called Albert so we hope that it was made by him as an apprentice piece but the date is confusing the issue. He was born 1889 and killed in action in 1917. So can anyone help with the date?
    Main research interests.. CAESAR (Surrey and London), GOODALL (London), SKITTERALL, WOODWARD (Middlesex and London), BARBER (Canterbury, Kent), DRAYSON (Canterbury, Kent), CRISP (Kent) and CHEESEMAN (Kent).

  • #2
    Could it be 11 for 1911? Although if they are 1s they don't match the 1 in 12. It does look like 77 but that doesn't work with your name and date.
    Anne

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    • #3
      Definitely looks like 77 or 74. Was his Father or an uncle called Albert?

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      • #4
        I’ve asked my brother to send a picture of the whole chest of drawers which I will post tomorrow. I think the design is too simple to have been done in the 1870s. I’ll have a look and see if I can find any other relatives called Albert too, but need my laptop for that. Will post again tomorrow.
        Main research interests.. CAESAR (Surrey and London), GOODALL (London), SKITTERALL, WOODWARD (Middlesex and London), BARBER (Canterbury, Kent), DRAYSON (Canterbury, Kent), CRISP (Kent) and CHEESEMAN (Kent).

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        • #5
          I wonder if the swoop at the top of the 2nd digit isn't actually part of the number, but an extraneous mark.

          I've seen ones that have left flags at the top.

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          • #6
            Now I'm going to muddy the waters even further and say it looks like 79 to me. The 'circle' part of the 9 looks heavier than the tail, which is how it would be if someone were writing it, but if that were the case and it was a 9 then I'd expect that he'd trace over them to make them more pronounced like it looks like he did with the other numbers. So no further forward really. Is the date a significant date within your family? I always write out the date longhand 30th December 2022 or 30/12/2022 so there is no confusion.
            Julie
            They're coming to take me away haha hee hee..........

            .......I find dead people

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            • #7
              I have also had another thought this morning. My father’s name was also Albert and he was born in 1916. If the first digit of the year is a 2 (the top of it is exactly like the 2 in 12) and the other digit is 7 then in 1927 my father would have been 11 and could well have made it in a woodwork class, or maybe just made the one drawer as part of a group project? Although everyone had very similar writing styles in those days, the A of Albert is very like the way my Dad did his initials although he was always known as Bert.

              5CDD148F-36C0-4398-A7B6-7E7784DA906D.jpg
              Main research interests.. CAESAR (Surrey and London), GOODALL (London), SKITTERALL, WOODWARD (Middlesex and London), BARBER (Canterbury, Kent), DRAYSON (Canterbury, Kent), CRISP (Kent) and CHEESEMAN (Kent).

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              • #8
                Looks like 79 to me too. The 9 is rushed but it does have a slight curl.
                Kat

                My avatar is my mother 1921 - 2012

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                • #9
                  I don't think that chest is something an 11 year old could have made (even then, when they were already working at that age). That's a lot of drawers to make fit and all the keyholes to fit.

                  If we suppose the date is 1879 how does that fit with any family members? Am thinking brothers, cousins, uncles?

                  Do you have any evidence of how long 'forever' in the family is, a date when you know the chest was definitely in the family to work back from?

                  There's always the possibility that someone other than the maker decided to write their name and date, although the style of writing makes it less likely to be 1979.

                  Anne

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                  • #10
                    And I'll muddy the waters even more.... I think it says Albert 6/12/37 or possibly even 34.

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                    • #11
                      In reply to Anne's thoughts....

                      "I don't think that chest is something an 11 year old could have made (even then, when they were already working at that age). That's a lot of drawers to make fit and all the keyholes to fit".
                      This is why I wondered if it might be something he helped to make, either with a friend, relative or a school project. We do have a couple of other things here that I remember him telling me that he made them at school when he was around 10 years old. A little foot stool and a medicine cupboard which my sister and I used as a doll's wardrobe when we were little.

                      "If we suppose the date is 1879 how does that fit with any family members? Am thinking brothers, cousins, uncles?"
                      The only Alberts that I have records for are my father and his father plus a younger cousin of my father but I don't think it would have been him.

                      "Do you have any evidence of how long 'forever' in the family is, a date when you know the chest was definitely in the family to work back from?"
                      I asked my brother and he remembers it being in his bedroom since he was very small so c1960 and he says he was told that it was made by someone in the family but that's all he can recall.

                      "There's always the possibility that someone other than the maker decided to write their name and date, although the style of writing makes it less likely to be 1979".
                      I wondered if it might be a red-herring or coincidence but my brother is pretty sure it was made by a family member.

                      As for the other date suggestions, I am struggling to unsee 27 now that I have had that thought and I can't see a 3 or a 9 at all.

                      I'm going to rummage in some old papers today and see if I can find anything with my father's initials on it. He had a distinctive way of writing AHG as his initials so the A might give another clue if I can find one.
                      Main research interests.. CAESAR (Surrey and London), GOODALL (London), SKITTERALL, WOODWARD (Middlesex and London), BARBER (Canterbury, Kent), DRAYSON (Canterbury, Kent), CRISP (Kent) and CHEESEMAN (Kent).

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                      • #12
                        "Do you have any evidence of how long 'forever' in the family is, a date when you know the chest was definitely in the family to work back from?"
                        I asked my brother and he remembers it being in his bedroom since he was very small so c1960 and he says he was told that it was made by someone in the family but that's all he can recall.

                        So that might rule out your father because surely he would have been told "Your father made it"??

                        Anne​

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                        • #13
                          Hhmm, that crossed my mind too. I think he would know for sure if it was made by our Dad.
                          Main research interests.. CAESAR (Surrey and London), GOODALL (London), SKITTERALL, WOODWARD (Middlesex and London), BARBER (Canterbury, Kent), DRAYSON (Canterbury, Kent), CRISP (Kent) and CHEESEMAN (Kent).

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