Thread: Restoration of a Dresser.

It looks to be circa 1920 to me.

Are you sure it is Silky Oak and not English/European/Japanese Oak (Quercus sp.)? I'm not meaning to be argumentative and you may well be very expert in timber id but its just that some of the figure under the mirror and in the LHS leg looks like one of the Quercus oaks. However, it is very difficult to id from photographs and you have the piece in your hands so probably are correct.

If it is Northern Silky Oak (Cardwellia sublimis) then there are plenty of collectors here in Queensland that love the stuff. I'm not sure of the sale price, but I would have thought a bit less than $600 unless you have a good retail outlet. A dealer near us sells a lot of Northern Silky Oak and he tells me that most collectors much prefer a traditional shellac finish and would shy away from a contemporary poly finish like the plague. He refinishes a lot himself when he finds them dark and nasty like this one sounds as though it was, but always uses shellac.