As seen in The Antique Shoppe Newspaper, October 2008

Q. I need to find the center of a large circle (48in) for a furniture project dreamed up by my wife. It involves a pre cut piece of wood and I can't seem to get the center exactly right. Isn't there a method other than guesswork for this? I have one of those plastic "zero-zero center finders" that I use for small stock but of course it won't work on something of this size. Thanks for your help. Bill P.

A. Bill, actually the concept of your "center finder" will work here - you just have to think bigger and go back to your 8th grade plane geometry class. The center finder works because a line that bisects the right or acute angle formed by the intersection of two tangents of the same circle will pass through the center point of the circle (a tangent is a line that touches a circle at only one point). Got that? You just don't know where on that line the center is. That's why you have to do the procedure with the center finder twice. The intersection of the two bisecting lines drawn by the center finder is the actual center point of the circle. But on your project that would require you to actually draw the tangents and bisect the angle using a compass. Too much like work on your scale.

There are several other methods that use scribed arcs and tangents but they also require  work outside the actual circle which may be awkward for your project. Try this. Using a chalk line, snap a "chord" which is defined as that portion of a line inside a circle that intersects the circle in two places. Using your tape measure find the center of the chord inside the circle. Mark that spot and using your framing square draw a line at a 90 degree angle to the chord beginning at the marked center of the chord. Then repeat the entire procedure at a different point on the circle just making sure your two snapped chord lines are not parallel. Where the two 90 degree lines intersect is the center of the circle. It actually works. Good luck.

Q. I read online somewhere that if you read the serial numbers of a Lane cedar chest backwards, the date it was made will be apparent. I have two Lane chests but I still can't make sense of the dates. The serial numbers are 055239 and 2836720. So how old are they and how do I read the dates from these numbers? I also read that older Lane chests can't be refinished because you will ruin the veneer. Is that true? Thanks. Tim C., e-mail

A. Tim, ol' buddy, somebody has been dreaming too much. Did you listen to the Beatles "Abbey Road" backwards too? There is no code imbedded in the Lane numbers. Lane began in Alta Vista, Virginia in1912 when John Lane bought a box factory. He encouraged his son Ed to make cedar chests in the plant. The company was incorporated as the Standard Red Chest Company and was nowhere near sophisticated enough to imbed date codes in serial numbers. In fact earlier Lane chests had no serial numbers, only style numbers.

You can contact Lane directly for historical information. Their service reps will look up a style number and tell you when that style was made but they can't pinpoint an exact date from that number. However, if you do find a real serial number they can give you the date of manufacture. You can contact them online at http://www.lanefurniture.com/customer_care/FrequentlyAsked2.asp?CategoryNumber=15&CategoryName=Cedar+Chests&LHF=

Lane chests can be refinished using the same care and techniques you would use on any other older piece of furniture. There is no magic there.

Personal Comment:

I recently had the pleasure of attending a major 19th century furniture auction at the Flomaton Antique Auction in Flomaton, Alabama. One of the items of particular interest to me was a tall mahogany bed ca 1840 with a possible attribution to a maker of whom I had only slight knowledge - Prudent Mallard. The attribution to Mallard was because the bed was identical to one made by him, currently in the antebellum mansion Rosalie in Natchez, MS. So many artifacts from the first half of the 19th century were lost in the 1860's in the South that those that survive and can be attributed have special relevance.

Prudent (or Prudence as some references have it) was born in France in 1809 and arrived in New York at age 20. Finding the climate not to his liking he soon repaired to New Orleans where he prospered as a merchant, importer and cabinetmaker. His wealth was such that his own ships carried cotton to Europe to exchange for furniture of the Continent for his wealthy patrons. The ships also stopped in the Caribbean on the return trip to load up on rosewood and mahogany for his own elaborate creations.

Between Prudent Mallard, another French born cabinetmaker and wine merchant Francois Seignouret who opened his New Orleans shop in 1822 and the satellite office in New Orleans of  J. & J.W.  Meeks of New York, the South did not want for elegant furnishings in the French manner and the high Rococo style. Mallard died in New Orleans in 1879.

An excellent reference for furniture of this period and style as well as brief biographies of some of the craftsmen of the era is "American Furniture of the 19th Century, 1840 - 1880" by Eileen and Richard Dubrow, Schiffer Books.

**NOTE: ANTIQUE SHOPPE NEWSPAPER DOES NOT SELL ANTIQUES OF ANY SORT. WE ARE STRICTLY A PUBLISHING COMPANY AND PRINT ARTICLES ON VARIOUS ANTIQUES**

Visit Fred's website at www.furnituredetective.com.  Fred's book "HOW TO BE A FURNITURE DETECTIVE" is now available for $18.95 plus $2.00 S & H. Send check or money order for $20.95 to Fred Taylor, PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423.

      Fred and Gail Taylor's video, "IDENTIFICATION OF OLDER & ANTIQUE FURNITURE", ($29.95 includes S & H) is also available at the same address. For more information call (800) 387-6377, fax (352) 563-2916, or e-mail fmtaylor@aol.com.