Q My wife and I bought a blanket chest at an auction. It’s made of cedar planks and has steel wheels. It measures 26 by 50 inches. It doesn’t have any marking. I was told it came from an old basement here in Cookeville, Tenn.
A Your chest looks like it was made from Tennessee Red Cedar. Cedar chests were designed to store linens and woolens and the aromatic cedar oil repels moths. They were popular graduation or wedding gifts, and many have been handed down through generations. While there are no markings on your chest, there were a few manufacturers of Tennessee Red Cedar chests in the Chattanooga area. One of them was the Tennessee Red Cedar and Novelty Co. It was listed in the Chattanooga business directory from the 1920s through the 1950s. The company was started by a man who worked for the Tennessee Coffin and Casket Co. Another was Roos Manufacturing Co. which operated from the 1870s through the 1920s. And a third was the Tennessee Furniture Co. which made a ”Cavalier” line of cedar chests. All of the companies made chests with casters. Your chest was probably made in the 1930s and it’s worth about $250.