Man, this brings back memories! My grandfather was a carpenter; he made rocking chairs for my grandmother & for his daughters (my aunts), & he made me a little dining table with 4 chairs when I was a tiny girl -don't know what happened to that, wish I still had it. I threw a jealous fit one day because my cousins, his other granddaughters, being "big girls", got hope chests. My grandfather heard about my hissy fit... & built me a cedar wardrobe. I still wanted a hope chest, & for years I felt like I had gotten a consolation prize. One day I realized that my cedar wardrobe was a truly wonderful thing, better than a piece of furniture whose purpose was predicated on some future event & lifestyle; the cedar wardrobe was just for me! My brothers & I used to play hide & seek in that thing, & my little dresses hung, on small plastic hangers, from a clothes rod he rigged up for me. My shoes (when I remembered) were kept on the floor of the wardrobe. When I took homemaking in high school, I started keeping material in it. I still have it today, & I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The company has been making cedar chests since about 1906. The value of a chest depends on the age and the style. Linda C

Not exactly about these gorgeous chests, but I just HAVE to pass this info along about LANE chests. Several years ago, there was a terrible tragedy in the Philly area when a child got inside one and couldn't get out... suffocated! If you (or anyone you know) has a LANE chest, you NEED to go to their site to see about getting a FREE replacement lock. The button on new lock has to be pressed (from outside) for it to lock. LANE changed this on their stuff sometime around mid-80's, so newer ones can't accidentally lock. I had one from 40's and another from 70's and got replacement in very little time. Only needed a screw driver and maybe 5 minutes time to replace them.

Ha! I understand where you are coming from. We found the chest and loved it some 15 years ago, maybe more. Its a Lane too by the way. When we opened it and realized it was cedar it was a turn off but I think we paid maybe $100 for it on a dept store clearance---the store was going out of business. So we bought it with the idea we'd use it to protect some stuff since our house at the time was sooooo small and we were out of closet space and under the bed space. It eneded up in the DR of all places being used as a display table for pictures with unused blankets inside. Now that we finally moved, we were looking for a spot where it could be better appreciated. The pefect spot was in the FR and coincidently we needed a place to put our blankets and pillows. The chest was the perfect solution except for the smell. So now we have a nice looking chest that we can use. If I ever really want the cedar scent back I suppose the urathane can be sanded off.