Wow Talk about some great info you all rock. I will try to answer the few questions I saw, if I miss anyone just reply. I am in Texas not chicago area. I do think the short square one is walnut , someone else say it and thought it was earlier in the year. The short square one appears to be mostly solid with veneer on both sides, but not on the top or the draw faces. The shorter of the two serpentine fronted ones has veneer on the drawer fronts but appears to have a solid top. The taller of the two sperpentine fronted ones has veneer on drawer fronts and on the top. I'm not sure about where I will sell them, probably craigslist or ebay. If anyone is intrested let me know. I will post them soon for $250.00 for each of the birdseye serpentine fronted ones and $175.00 for the short square one. I know thats on the high end of the sugjested price range, but I don't have to sell them so it's not a biggie. Thank you all so very much for your time and great info. Chris

I think it's beautiful! I would tend to agree (with very little expertise on my part) that it's probably a mahogany 1930s or 1940s dresser. I've heard them termed "Federal" style too. I have a somewhat similar (though different details) wide dresser and I love it. In my area it's difficult to find older wide mahogany dressers and so I would probably snap this one up in a heartbeat. For my area $250 sounds like a great deal, but I think it's always a good idea to start with a lower bid. As long as the drawers operate nicely and everything is in pretty good shape, I'd say it's a keeper.

An excellent topcoat in a wet environment is Waterlox - DIY friendly, easy to repair, and has excellent water resistance. Bleed through is usually found with those deep red stains usually found on Mahogany. Shellac is a good barrier to prevent/minimize that. Likely not necessary on the piece you show but no harm in doing it. Caveat there though is the shellac in the can is not de-waxed and may affect your choice of top coat. As for staining the body darker to match the top - probably not necessary. The little bit of color that will peek through after you distress will not appear that much different - and as stated above a bit of dark wax can even it up if it is that noticeable to you. A little dark wax goes a long way so use with a light hand. As for the underside of the top - use a sanding sponge to get under there - easiest if you flip the piece over and work that way. You may not need stain under there but you will want your topcoat to cover it. Here is a link that might be useful: Waterlox

I don't think this is an extremely old piece. The thing about basing "age" on ownership by a grandparent or even great grandparent is that they might not have stopped buying at a certain point in time. Even if you are basing solely on his "age, he would have bee purchasing it presumably during his marriage which would have been sometime in the late 1920's or 1930's presumably. My mother was born slighty later than your Great Grandfather as she was born in 1919. She started furnishing a home in the 1950's and there would be no way to "date" the items in her home based on her year of birth since they included MCM, Victorian, Art Deco, 1970's and 1980's of various styles including reproductions - e.g. a painted secretary in what was probably a vaguely French Provincial style. I think she probably bought a few items in faux or authentic Heywood Wakefield style when she was first setting up her home as she was nostalgic about that style. She bought at various times in her life and from various sources including new, antique stores and estate sales. Based on the wood and the style my semi-educated guess would be that your piece is from the 1920's or 1930's. Really the question is whether you like it enough to spend a considerable amount of money to have it refinished? I had (or have) a vintage bedroom suite from the 1930's in the Waterfall style. When I remodeled I decided I still liked the style enough to use some parts of it in my new bedroom and so I had the armoire and dresser refinished. I had the vanity turned into two end tables which were also refinished. I think the actual construction my furniture is a bit like yours as mine has the "fancy" wood but it is a veneer and also has some other touches typical of that style. The company that did the job did a beautiful job but it was as expensive as my buying high end new furniture. I did it because after looking at new stuff I realized that I liked the old furniture more than what I was seeing. FWIW the same company also refinished a solid Art Deco solid wood "bar" and did a custom dining room table that was based on a French Art Deco table. I have a somewhat dinged up Chnese Deco which is in its chipped "shabby chic" state because I still love it but I don't see how it could possibly be restored given the intricate nature of its design. Find out how much a good professional refinish will be and then decide whether you love the piece enough to spend that amount. Or if you want to just keep using it in its current condition and not spend the money.