A Very Fine Quality Mid 19th Century Birdseye Maple Wood Wellington Chest, Having Superbly Figured Veneers, The Rectangular Top Over Seven Drawers With Mostly Original Turned Wooden Knobs, Flanked By Hinged Pilasters To Each Side, Raised On Original Plinth Base.

“Makers Label – Balls, Forman & Co, 170 Oxford Street, London.”

John Balls is recorded as a cabinet maker at various addresses around the city of London during the 19th century, starting around 1809. However his partnership with Forman, trading as Balls, Forman & Co from 170 Oxford Street appears to have first been recorded around 1855 which is very helpful in narrowing down the approximate date of this lovely wellington chest of drawers.

The quality of the piece, as you would expect from one of the top London cabinet making firms of the time is quite exceptional. Mahogany drawer linings, top end Birdeye Maple veneers and just general quality of craftsmanship are all involved here.

Birdseye Maple is a particularly attractive wood which as the name suggests is a variation of traditional maple. Generally unmistakeable due to the distinctive Birdseye like figuring it is both highly decorative and relatively rare, due to the distinctive grain being caused by unfavourable growing conditions for the original tree.

It first become popular in the early 19th century and has been relatively widely used in fine furniture ever since. In the days when furniture was hand made only the best cabinet makers would dare to use Birdseye Maple due to the huge amount of skill required in the working and cutting of the wood due to its divergent grain. It took many, many hours of hand planing to produce a successful high sheen when working with this wood.

The first Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, commissioned the first chest of this type, i.e. a tall bank of drawers secured by hinged locking pilasters to take with him and carry around various battlefields and that is where the name wellington chest comes from. It is now used to refer to almost any tall, narrow antique chest of drawers.

From around 1820 onwards they were manufactured in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, plus they varied a great deal in terms of both their quality and the wood which they are constructed from.

As always one of the big advantages with a chest of this form is that it offers a different and more unusual perspective to the room in terms of its height and proportion. Also of course the drawers are incredibly functional when used for items that you don’t wish to be buried at the bottom of the much larger drawers which can be found in conventional antiques chests of drawers.

Like all the items which we offer for sale, this Victorian Wellington Chest has been attended to in the traditional manner at our workshops before being offered for sale, by our highly trained and skilled antique furniture restorers including a light clean and natural wax polish to ensure that it is in retail condition and ready to be placed immediately into the home or workplace.