Colonial Australian Huon Pine Chest of Drawers, Circa 1860
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A stunning Colonial Australian apprentice chest of drawers crafted in huon and kauri pine secondary timbers with exceptionally well selected birdseye huon pine, the drawers with cockbeaded decoration and the front stiles with musk panels and huon lozenge inlay and surrounded in checkered stringing, triple reeded base standing on finely turned feet, turned whalebone knobs and escutcheons, Tasmanian origin, circa 1860.
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- Musk Wood - The musk is native to Tasmania, and is found in the rainforests and wetter regions especially along river banks. It grows to a height of between five and fifteen metres, it has a musk scent. A rare timber and therefore mainly used as a veneer in the 19th-century, it is light brown in colour and furniture constructed from it is very expensive.
- Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
- Kauri - An evergreen conifer tree associated with New Zealand, but also grown in northern Australia, and islands around the Pacific rim including Borneo, Vanuatu and New Guinea. The timber is generally golden in colour, and straight grained without much knotting.
A by-product of the kauri tree was the kauri gum, the fossilised resin extracted from the tree. The gum was obtained through digging, fossicking in treetops, or more drastically, by bleeding live trees. Kauri gum was used in the manufacture of varnishes and other resin-based products, and also crafted into jewellery, keepsakes, and small decorative items.
Kauri forests were prolific in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. European settlers in the 1700 and 1800s realised that the timber from these tall trees with broad trunks would be ideal for ship building and construction and a thriving industry was established harvesting the kauri tree. The forests were substantially reduced, and now the remaining Kauri trees that grow in New Zealand are protected, and there are reserves in various areas of the North Island.
The remaining stands of kauri in New Zealand are under threat from "kauri disease", a microscopic organism that causes dieback in the trees, with vast tracts either dead or dying.
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