Antique/Vintage Cavelier Cedar Chest for Blankets, Linens, Pillows, Toys, 1930s

Details

Description

This high quality cedar chest was in my husband’s family for many decades. The Cavalier brass logo shows a soldier, … Read more This high quality cedar chest was in my husband’s family for many decades. The Cavalier brass logo shows a soldier, holding a saber and his hat. The hardware is copper or brass.

From AI:
The Cavalier Corporation — Chattanooga, Tennessee
The company began as the Tennessee Furniture Company of Chattanooga, founded in 1865. In 1923, Gaston Raoul changed the name to the Cavalier Corporation, adopting the dashing swordsman figure you see on this badge as their trademark.
The Cavalier line and trademark were used only for cedar chests and iceboxes, and the chests were built from Tennessee red cedar.

The Emblem
The raised metal plaque depicts a Cavalier — a 17th-century English Royalist soldier — standing in an oval frame, dressed in period military attire with a sword, sash, and bucket-top boots. It's a beautifully detailed piece of Art Deco-era branding, typically affixed to the front of the chest.
Dating Your Chest

Cedar chest production ran from 1923 through the early 1940s. The style of the chest itself can help narrow it down — waterfall/Art Deco curves suggest the 1930s–early 1940s.

The chest measures 43½ inches long, by 20 inches deep, by 24½ inches tall, plus 4 more inches for the top scroll.

The locking hardware is there, but no key.

The cedar chest is in excellent condition with a smooth mechanism of copper or brass hardware. The wood has great grain and is really pretty. The legs show a little vintage wear, but no structural issues. See less