Antique Asian Apothecary Medicine Chest

[FriscoT06]

Got this at the flea market today for $48 to keep for myself- i was wondering if anybody could help me get an age for this. It seems modern reproductions sell at Sears for $500, but the language characters on those are stamped, whereas mine are carved, would take a long time to do. Seems that originals also sell in the $500 range as well on Ebay. Any idea what language the characters are in, Korean, Chinese, Japanese? I will post more pics shortly as well of hardware used, in case it can be dated based on its construction. Any thoughts welcome, thanks guys!

 

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[JerseyDigger19]

Can't guess the age but I can tell you you've got a heck of a score! Chinese chests with small drawers are extremely popular and I've never seen one offered for less than $200. Congratulations!

 

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[Yang Hao]

Did you ever translate all the chinese? I'm guessing some of them may not have an english translation. Such as 五赤 wuchi (which is a chinese medicine to help the heart) and 骨杞 guqi. 川连 chuanlian 川連 is sichuan coptis root.

 

[FriscoT06]

Oh wow! No I never figured out any more. Thank you Yang Hao!

 

[FriscoT06]

By the way, let me know if you happen to know any others if you have time! Do you know of a source I can use on the internet to find this information perhaps?

 

[FriscoT06]

Removed the cruddy spraypaint from the brass! Unfortunate it was sprayed, had a great patina layer I noticed while sanding, at least the drawers appear to have the original finish! Took out each brass nail carefully and placed them back in the same spot, even the same amount of rotation so they would fit right! Only one nail broke and was replaced. Sanded the brass, wiped with apple cider vinegar and baked at 450 for 20 min to give it a a darker color, rinsed, mineral oiled, and reinstalled, looks great!

 

[FriscoT06]

Also, all the drawers were handmade to fit in their respective spots- some were fitting weird, and I noticed that the back of the drawers were given numbers in a red wax pencil. I put them back in order and now they all fit great! Apparently, whoever labeled them couldn't write 9's correctly- wrote them as P's on drawers 9 and 19...

 

[Gridwalker306]

Excellent job, that looks so much better! That thing is really cool.

 

[FriscoT06]

Thanks! Also, concerning age, the trim in between the drawers seems to be common on most of the ones advertised on the bay as mid to late 1800's, as well as one listed as pre-1800. Luckily the outer wood side panels that create a gap between the outside and the sides of the outermost drawers, as well as only 3 tacks used per top brass fitting, and of course the darkening of the unfinished wood along with blackening from moisture seems to eliminate it from being a modern 'Korean' Walmart type. They also don't offer this 27 drawer configuration.

 

[bulletprobe]

this medicine cabinet is worth 50,000USD in other auction houses you got a good price this medicine cabinet belongs to the emperor qianlong of the qing dynasty

 

[FriscoT06]

Well great... Now i know it's not one of a kind... Might as well throw it away with the rest of the made in china junk...

 

[Yang Hao]

Looks awesome.

 

[FriscoT06]

Thanks!