LATE 19TH / EARLY 20TH CENTURY 84 DRAWER PRIMITIVE APOTHECARY / GENERAL STORE MAKE-DO CABINET IN FEDERAL BLUE MILK PAINT
Thank you for shopping with Bay Colony Antiques. We're a third generation family owned business furnishing homes all over the world. We aggressively pursue important antiques, decorative arts, and objects of interest for our most discerning clients.
With our highest compliments and honors we're delighted to offer for sale this absolutely wonderful 84 drawer primitive style apothecary / general store make-do cabinet in original federal blue milk paint. In a primitive market absolutely saturated with reproduction and fake antiques this cabinet is the sweetest breath of fresh air. We believe this is a late 19th century cabinet but to heir to caution it could easily be early 20th century CA 1910. From a coastal Connecticut home this estate fresh apothecary has 84 drawers. The owner said this was wall mounted in a general store which makes sense as we start looking at the construction. We use the term make-do for cabinets as these where a need was present and the object was crafted with what was available. Examining the drawer bottoms they're constructed of various wood stock from boxes you'd find in a general store ranging from imported tobacco to petroleum products and many other house hold brands. The cabinet is finished with a very charming original federal blue milk paint with great wear patterns from a long cherished life of past use. In a sophisticated cabinet shop pre planned designs are executed and it's not uncommon to see identical objects from the same maker. That's one of our favorite thing when dealing with country primitives. Every piece is unique and tells a story. We've been busy handling estates all up and down the east coast. We have access to the finest antiques brought to market and choose to be very selective in our offerings. We could easily send this to a New England auction house and be handsomely paid but we want the best being offered to only OUR clients and proud to do so. We meet wonderful collectors every day as we furnish homes across the US. This is without a doubt one of the best primitives we've had in quite some time.The plywood mounted on the back is obviously a later addition we assume the past owner did to wall mount the cabinet. We will have this corrected by our woodworker replaced with correct old stock boards. This cabinet measures 32" wide x 5" deep x 46" tall.
