Early American reproduction furniture is a house favorite at Furniture consignment Gallery. This Tiger Maple Dunlap High Boy by Eldred Wheeler is the nicest piece of furniture in our showroom right now so we had to make it our Piece of the Week before it travels to its next destination.
Inspired from an original work that was crafted by Major John Dunlap in the late 1700s, this piece has some amazing features. First there is a beautiful scrolled carving at the bottom of the highboy of pinwheels and the fan which is a tell tale sign of a Dunlap piece. The hardware has a nice aged patina and the dove tail cross bar which runs under each drawer is a sign of the wonderful craftsmanship of Eldred Wheeler.
Dunlap was a Northern New England craftsman who used the indigenous maple trees in New Hampshire to craft his furniture. He must have been quite lucky as many of his original creations are made from tiger maple and maple trees that produce the tiger stripes are not identifiable unless they are first cut down.
This chest is 80" tall and that is a bit comical given that the average height of an average American in the late 1700s was 5'8". Not even today's taller generations could see into the top drawers without a step stool.
This is a wonderful reproduction piece of furniture. The finish is full of life and the construction is bar none. You can enjoy it in your home for $5,799 and you can find many other wonderful pieces of furniture at our consignment furniture showrooms in Hanover, MA and in Chestnut Hill, MA.
