Thoughts on this mantel

[TuckerTavern]

Any idea what era this mantel dates to? It's not original to the room it's in which is a circa 1840 log cabin.

[Gothichome]

Tucker, looks to be Georgian (federal in the USA) if not original it most certainly would be period correct.

[TuckerTavern]

Tucker, looks to be Georgian (federal in the USA) if not original it most certainly would be period correct.

OK, I wonder if I can get anyone else here to chime in with an opinion? I had an antiques dealer tell me that it dated to the 1870s, so I wonder what he was basing that on?

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

Gee hard to tell from the pictures but I think it may be much "newer". The moldings look like stock moldings to me. Especially the one under the shelf. Just my opinion from a picture.

[TuckerTavern]

Gee hard to tell from the pictures but I think it may be much "newer". The moldings look like stock moldings to me. Especially the one under the shelf. Just my opinion from a picture.

Gulp. Well, if that turns out to be the case then that's ok because the mantel is going anyway. I think the scale of it looks wrong in this room.

[Willa]

There is some oddness in the proportions.

Worst case scenario is that if you remove it carefully, and discover it is original to the house you can put it back. The color of the wood on the back, and the shape of the nails is a pretty good indicator of the age, unless some fraudster built it from old lumber.

Old House Dreams (blog) has real estate listings for old houses, with loads of photos and a huge archive. You could search the houses in your state and see if there are similar mantels in houses of the same age give or take. There are often local eccentricities of style, finishing, etc. but this will give you an approximate idea at least ?

[TuckerTavern]

There is some oddness in the proportions.

Worst case scenario is that if you remove it carefully, and discover it is original to the house you can put it back. The color of the wood on the back, and the shape of the nails is a pretty good indicator of the age, unless some fraudster built it from old lumber.

Old House Dreams (blog) has real estate listings for old houses, with loads of photos and a huge archive. You could search the houses in your state and see if there are similar mantels in houses of the same age give or take. There are often local eccentricities of style, finishing, etc. but this will give you an approximate idea at least ?

That's a good idea! I don't know when moldings started to be applied rather than carved, but I never thought this mantel was original as it's too ornate for a lowly log cabin.

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

Moldings of the era were usually made with hand planes. Each craftsman had his own set of planes (usually very many, each having a different profile) and were most likely made by him, although he also might have bought them from someone else or they may have been handed down. But, standard molding shapes didn't exist as they do today. There is a historic mansion in my city where all the moldings were done by a shipwright, evidenced by the molding shapes and how they were installed.

[TuckerTavern]

Moldings of the era were usually made with hand planes. Each craftsman had his own set of planes (usually very many, each having a different profile) and were most likely made by him, although he also might have bought them from someone else or they may have been handed down. But, standard molding shapes didn't exist as they do today. There is a historic mansion in my city where all the moldings were done by a shipwright, evidenced by the molding shapes and how they were installed.

And you think these moldings look more like modern standard moldings, correct? Modern, like, how modern are we talking?

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

I'm just going by the profiles I see in the picture. "Modern" meaning mass produced by machines vs. hand planes. Moldings have been somewhat standardized over the years with manufacturing codes assigned to them. Homes of late 1800s cold have mass produced moldings.

I agree with Willa that removing them and looking at the back may give you some more info. If there are relief groove(s) on the back that would be an indication of machine made moldings,or you may be able to see machine marks on them. I also agree with Willa that the proportions are weird. Certainly not crafted by someone with a lot of experience.