Show THE ROMANCE OF THE CHEST Article of Furniture Often Mentioned In Old Books and Manuscripts The term coffer Is rightly applied only to the very earliest specimens of these boxes when they had but a single sin-gle panel and were bound with Iron or made of great strength Such articles ar-ticles as these are called In old books and manuscripts trussing chests or standards Hutch was another term applied to these standing chests and they were so Important that you cannot read any of those valuable old records like Tho Paston Letters or Howells letters nor the records of our own early settlers without finding many references to the chest beginning begin-ning with that small kind known as a Bible box and running thorough all tho varieties which could bo brought or made hero Although the chest grew into the chest of drawers the simple boxlike form remained In use till about 1810 for I still find them recorded re-corded In Inventories and wills till about that date Italian chests or cassonl were always al-ways gems of art On them not only the artist artisan like the carver and Inlayer displayed his best handiwork but tile artist himself painted on them loves and cupldones masks and musical musi-cal instruments flowers and festoons letting his fancy have full play when It was applied to a marriage chest or one of those elegant little coffers In which some noble lady kept her store of greate peojles her girdles and rings her chains filled with Jewels of brilliant color and great worth Such chests had ponderous locks Concealed to some extent amid the ornament or I i within the chest itself |