Introduction
A washstand is a small piece of furniture that usually consists of an arrangement of drawers and doors.  It was a common feature of most bedrooms and hotel rooms prior to the advent of indoor plumbing and was mass produced in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.  The general dimensions of most washstands made during this period are approximately 16 inches deep by 31 inches wide and 28 inches high excluding casters and any attached towel bar or splash board feature.  Many also had casters that were made of metal, wood, or ceramic-type (or porcelain-type) material.  Washstands were made from a variety of woods including oak, ash, pine, walnut, mahogany, and occasionally chestnut, maple, or cherry.  However, oak, ash, and pine were the most commonly used woods.  Walnut and mahogany washstands often have marble tops in contrast to oak, ash, and pine washstands that, usually, did not have marble tops.  Walnut or mahogany washstands with marble tops tended to be more expensive and therefore were more often bought by well-to-do individuals such as bankers, lawyers, or successful business entrepreneurs.  A washstand differs from a commode in that it does not have an inside-door compartment for sanitary accessories (McNerney, 1994). 
Washstands fell out of favor with the advent of indoor plumbing because they no longer had any real function or use in the bedroom.  They were sometimes used as small dressers in bedrooms.  However, more often they were moved from the bedroom and used in other parts of the house, such as a vestibule area, to hold miscellaneous items or in the rear entryway areas of houses for gloves, hats, etc.  They were also used in garages and tool sheds as storage for small items.  Many were painted in the 1940’s and 1950’s and they are often still found painted with any number of coats of paint.  In fact, it is somewhat unusual to find a washstand made in the late 1800’s-early 1900’s that was not painted at one time.  Many of the painted washstands have been stripped and refinished in recent years (1970's to 1990's) to restore their original appearance. 

Drawers and Doors
In general, there are two types of arrangements of drawers and doors in washstands.  The first, and probably the most common arrangement made between circa 1870 and 1900, is a single long drawer extending the width of the piece at the top with two small rectangular drawers on the lower left side below the single long drawer.  On the lower right side is a door to the compartment where a lidded slop bucket usually resided (Fig. 1 and Plate A).  The door usually had a wooden knob on a metal shaft with a metal flange/tab on the inside of the door that was turned to keep the door closed.  The wooden knob is often replaced by a metal knob if the washstand has been refinished.  The drawers could have wood knobs similar to those on the door or metal drawer handles.  The original metal drawer handles on many washstands have often been replaced to ‘dress up’ the washstand for sale after it has been refinished. 
The second principal arrangement of drawers and doors is one, or two, long drawers above two doors without a vertical support piece between the two doors (Fig. 2 and Plates B and C).  The door on the right side usually has a wood knob, and may have an attached lath-like piece that overlaps the door on left side to help keep it closed.  If there is no overlap, the left side door commonly has an eye screw on the door and a flat metal hook attached at the base of the compartment keep the left door closed.  These may be replaced by metal plates and magnetic holders during refinishing.  Horizontal or vertical incising and spoon carving, if present, is similar to that described below. 
Other types of arrangements of drawers and doors do occur.  An interesting, and novel, arrangement of two drawers and two doors is illustrated in Figure 3.  However, I have seen only one washstand with this configuration.  Small washstands were also made.  An example with one drawer and one door, which may have been used in a children's room, is shown in Figure 4. 

Decoration and Appearance
The front of washstands made in the late 1800’s were often decorated with horizontal or vertical incising (also referred to as fluting, reeding, or “railroad tracks”) and spoon or chip carving.  Horizontal incising, if present, is usually restricted to the upper and lower parts of each drawer.  Vertical incising usually occurs on the side support pieces (pilasters) which form the frame of the washstand.  In addition, vertical incising may be present on the framed panel pieces of any doors that may be present.  More uncommon is vertical incising on the wood support piece which separates the two small drawers on the lower left side from the door compartment on the lower right side.  Plates A, B, and C illustrate the various types of incising.
Spoon carving (sometimes referred to as chip carving) may be present on the drawers and the door panel or any combination of the drawers and door panel(s).  The carving is usually a vine with leaves pattern although occasionally a floral-type design may be present (Plate A).  Washstands, or any piece of antique furniture such as a dresser or kitchen cupboard, with incising and (or) spoon carving is often referred to as being Eastlake.  The term Eastlake refers to British tastemaker Charles L. Eastlake (1836-1906) who wrote “Hints on Household Taste” in the late 1860’s (approximately 1868) which promoted generally plain rectilinear forms with added incising and spoon carving as decorative touches (Carron, 1998).  The plain squarish appearance was in style from approximately 1870 to 1890 (Swedberg and Swedberg, 1992).  The Eastlake style or appearance was used by innumerable furniture makers in the late 1800’s so the term, as now commonly used by dealers and auctioneers, refers to almost any piece of furniture with incising and (or) especially spoon carving. 
Originally many washstands had a towel bar back, a combination towel bar and mirror back, a splash board, or a combination splash board and mirror.  The towel bar often has a wishbone (or lyre) shape or a rectangular appearance with a dowel extending between the two side support pieces.  The towel bar and combination towel bar-mirror backs were often broken because they were relatively fragile and the pieces thrown away.  Therefore many washstands today may have no towel bar whatsoever or a recently manufactured lyre-shaped towel bar has been added.  A splash board consists of a single piece of wood attached to the back of the washstand.  They can project anywhere from 2 inches to more than 10 inches above the top of the washstand.  They can be plain or decorated with incising and spoon carving.  Splash boards were also often broken and removed or have been replaced during refinishing and restoration. 
Many of the late 1800’s washstands, as originally made, had metal, wood, or ceramic-type casters so they could be easily moved for cleaning or rearranging of furniture.  This was especially true of washstands made for use in hotels.  The pegs of the casters often broke through the wood surrounding the peg holes and all of the casters were removed at some point.  The original casters are often replaced, or removed, if the washstand has been refinished.  Therefore washstands with machine dowel jointed drawers (described below), incising, spoon carving, and the original casters are relatively uncommon. 
Washstands made in the early 1900’s often have curved, bowed, or serpentine fronts with no incising or spoon carving.  These washstands have a very straight forward, simple appearance and reflected a change in popularity away from the Eastlake-style.  The top of the washstand and, sometimes, the upper drawer curve or bow outward and project over the lower part of the washstand by about 1 inch.  The lower part of these washstands tend to have a 2-door compartment that extends the full width of the washstand rather than the 2 small drawers and single door of earlier pieces.  They were also commonly constructed with laminated or veneered wood rather than single pieces of solid wood.  In these washstands it is common to see small chips in the surface veneer wood along the top, bottom, and sides of the drawers and doors.  Washstands of the early 1900’s also, but not always, tend to be slightly larger (deeper and wider) than those made in the late 1800’s. 

Construction
There are five types of drawer construction that were used for washstands as well as other types of furniture that were mass produced in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  These are dowel or peg jointing, machine dowel (also known as dot center scallop) jointing as described by Lefever (1998); machine wedge (dove-tail) jointing; tongue-and-groove (tab-and-slot) jointing, and tongued rabbet or improved box jointing.  In addition, hand cut dove-tail jointing was occasionally done for custom-made furniture. 
Dowel or peg jointing (fig. 5 and Plate D) consists of a series of 5 to 7 dowels or pegs that project outward from the front and back pieces of a drawer.  The side pieces of a drawer have a corresponding number of holes cut into them.  The side pieces are then fit over the dowels or pegs of the front and back pieces and glued together.  This type of jointing is thought by some to represent an early type of mass produced construction that dates from about 1865 to possibly 1875 or 1880. 
Many washstands made between the early 1870’s and 1890 often have machine dowel jointing created by the Knapp Dovetailing Machine.  This is easily identified by the dowel- or peg-like appearance at the front and back of the side pieces of the drawers where they are joined to the front and back pieces of the drawer itself.  In addition, the front part of the side pieces and the sides of the drawer front piece itself have a distinctive scalloped appearance (Fig. 6 and Plate E). This type of drawer joint is also known as dot center scallop, crescent dove-tail, petticoat dove-tail, pin-and-cove dove-tail, scallop and dowel, pin and scallop, or half moon (all of these terms describe the same drawer joint which looks like a peg in a half circle on the side of a drawer).  Much of this type of doweled furniture is attributed to furniture manufactured in Grand Rapids, Michigan which was a major furniture manufacturing center in the last quarter of the 19th Century and early part of the 20th Century.  In addition, much of the scalloped doweling has been attributed to either Nelson, Matter & Company (Lefever, 1998) or the Phoenix Furniture Company.  Both companies were based in Grand Rapids.  If the side piece of a drawer got broken at some point the dowels or pegs could be cut off when it was repaired and the new drawer side was nailed to the front and back pieces.  This type of repair may decrease slightly the value of a washstand to a true collector.  The combination of machine dowel joints (or dot center scalloping) used for drawer construction along with incising and/or spoon carving on the front usually indicates that a piece of furniture was made in the latter part of the 19th Century, i.e. the early 1870’s to approximately 1890.  In contrast, the presence of machine wedge (traditional dove-tail) drawer joints (see below) generally indicates the piece was made in the 1890’s or early 1900’s.
The third major type of drawer construction is machine wedge (better known as dove-tail) jointing which also has a distinctive appearance (Fig. 7 and Plate F).  It is common in almost all pieces of furniture made after approximately 1890.  In many pieces of furniture made in the 1890's to very early 1900's both the front and back of a drawer may have machine wedge joints.  Machine wedge dove-tail making machinery was more efficient, cheaper, and faster than machine dowel jointing equipment.  As a result manufacturers quickly switched to machine wedge dove-tail construction and by the late 1890’s there were no manufacturers using machine dowel joints.  Machine wedge joints can usually be recognized by the uniform size and spacing of the 'wedges' on both wood pieces in a single joint. 
A fourth type of jointing consists of tab-and-slot, or tongue-and-groove, joints at the front of the drawer (Fig. 8).  In this type of construction long slots or grooves were cut from the bottom to the top of the drawer front and drawer side pieces creating several elongate tabs and channels.  When glued together they create a jig saw appearance at the front of a drawer.  This type of construction generally dates the washstand to the 1890’s or early 1900’s.  Some people maintain that furniture with tab-and-slot drawer construction is less durable than furniture with either machine dowel or machine wedge construction and is considered, by some, to be lower quality also.  Washstands with tab-and-slot drawer construction are not common so there may be some truth to the lesser durability of this type of construction.  In general, dressers and other small pieces of furniture with drawers (i.e. sewing cabinets, lingerie chests, spool cabinets, etc.) with tab-and-slot drawer joints are more common than washstands with this type of drawer construction.  This type of drawer construction may be due, in part, more to the depth of the drawer than anything else.  It would be difficult to machine dowel or machine wedge the wood pieces used in the shallow drawers (1 to 3 inches deep) often seen in spool cabinets, etc. 
The fifth type of jointing consists of only 1 or 2 tabs and slots at the front of the drawer (Fig. 9).  This type of joint is referred to as a tongued rabbet or lock rabbet joint, although some refer to it as an improved box joint.  The back of the drawer usually has a groove or slot cut into each of the drawer side pieces and the back piece of the drawer is placed in the grooves or slots of the side pieces (Fig. 9).  In general, this type of drawer joint construction was first used in the early 1900's (circa 1905-1940) and is still used by wood workers today. 
A sixth type of joint construction is the hand cut dove-tail used for custom-made furniture (Fig. 10).  It was used by furniture makers prior to mechanization and mass production of furniture in the late 1800's. However, it was still done after 1870 for custom-made furniture and can still be done today.  Hand cut dove-tails can usually be recognized by the irregular spacing, size, and shape of the 'wedges' as well as the slightly imperfect 'fit' around the wedges.  In addition, a pencil or 'score' line is usually present on the side pieces.  This line, and any other pencil mark(s), was used by the maker to mark the position, depth, and width to hand cut the wedges in the side pieces to achieve a tight joint (fit) with the front piece of the drawer.  However, even in hand-made or custom-built furniture it is common that the joints at the back of a drawer are machine cut.  Usually the joints at the back of a drawer are similar to those shown in Figure 9.  It must also be noted that most fake furniture is made using hand cut dove-tails.  It is cheaper, and more efficient, to hand cut dove-tails to create a 'fake' than it is to create the mechanical jigs necessary to reproduce machine dowel construction.  Therefore most 'fake' furniture tries to imitate furniture that predates mass production.  In addition, antique furniture of the 1600's, 1700's, and early 1800's tends to be higher priced (i.e. greater return for the individual doing the 'fake').
One other type of corner drawer joint needs to be described.  It is what I call a rabbit-ear joint (Fig. 11).  A rabbit-ear joint consists of a series of flat tabs (each flat tab is usually less than 1/4 inch thick) with intervening gaps cut into both ends of the wood pieces that are used to make a drawer.  The flat tabs of two different pieces are then pushed together (intermeshed) to form a corner joint.  This type of corner joint was often used in spool cabinets where the individual drawers were less than 3 inches high or deep.  It was also used in other type of cabinets that had shallow drawers such as jewelry cases and certain types of flat file drawers.  I have only seen one washstand that used this type of drawer joint.     
Washstands have three types of drawer stops.  One type is metal tabs that are implanted on either side of the front drawer support piece.  The metal tabs often produce grooves on the underside of the bottom piece of a drawer and eventually can produce an open slot all the way through the bottom of the drawer.  The wear slots are merely a matter of use and how the drawer was pulled out and pushed back into place.  As a result the original drawer bottoms have often been replaced in many of these washstands.  However, this should not decrease the value of the washstand if the drawer bottom has been replaced correctly and consistently with the original construction of the drawer. 
The second type of drawer stop consists of small rectangular pieces of wood that are glued or nailed to the front drawer support piece.  These washstands will often still have the original drawer bottoms.  These washstands may be missing either or both of the drawer stops.  If they have not been replaced the drawer may not close evenly on both sides or the drawer slides too far into the front of the washstand.  However, these drawer stops can be easily replaced to produce a proper appearance when the drawer is closed.  The third type of drawer stop consists of short wooden dowels or pegs that are inset into the drawer support piece or glued to the drawer support piece.  If these have been broken off they may be replaced with small pieces of wood that have been glued or nailed on in place of the dowel. 
The backs of washstands exhibit a variety of construction techniques.  They include overlapping vertical panels, interlocking vertical panels, overlapping and/or interlocking horizontal panels, and non-overlapping vertical panels.  There is no absolute correlation between the age of the washstand and the type of back construction.  Although, in general, non-overlapping vertical panels tend to be more common in washstands probably made in the 1900’s versus those made in the 1800’s.  The back construction may have been more a function of cost and (or) quality than anything else.  Non-overlapping panel construction would use less wood and therefore cost less to produce than overlapping and interlocking panel construction.  Overlapping and especially interlocking wood panels using tongue-and-groove construction generally reflect better quality construction. 

Value (as of January-June 2003)
The value of a washstand depends on where it is being bought as well as the condition and appearance of the washstand itself.  Most washstands are obtained at various types of auctions or from an antique dealer who bought it at an auction.  In general, washstands at most auctions sell for $150 to $450 depending on the condition and appearance of the washstand and whether or not it has been refinished by the auctioneer or someone else.  The presence, or absence, of the original towel bar or splash board can also affect the price to a certain degree.  Many auctioneers and dealers will add a recently made towel bar or splash board prior to refinishing a washstand.  Washstands with a towel bar or splash board (albeit recently made) will often bring $50 to $100 more than a washstand without one.  In fact, it is often more common to see a washstand with a recently 'added' towel bar or splash board than it is to find one that is totally original.  From personal experience, I am always suspicious of any towel bar or splash board feature.  In the case of many end users (buyers) appearance is usually more important than originality.  However, to a true collector originality is critical.   
From a dealer the cost of most washstands is from $300 to over $700 but $350 to $550 is most common.  The price again may depend on whether or not the dealer refinished the washstand, added drawer hardware, did some repairs, etc.  These quoted price ranges are as of May-June 2003 in the south central and west central parts of the United States (i.e. from Texas to Montana).  Prices may be more, or less, in other parts of the country.  At the present time most auctioneers make no distinction, or mention, regarding the construction of a washstand.  Thus, it is not uncommon for an older machine dowel constructed washstand to be less expensive than a machine wedge constructed washstand even though the two washstands may be very similar.  This is also true of other pieces of furniture.  In addition, many dealers make little, if any, distinction between the type of drawer construction or even mention the type of drawer construction.  Most washstands on the auction market have been refinished and very few are auctioned in a painted condition.  The old adages of 'let the buyer beware' and 'all merchandise is sold as is' are still very true at auctions all over the United States.  A short note to all readers and buyers.  Remember that you are dealing with furniture that is 80-130 years old and that it may have been used on a daily basis for an equal period of time.  You should not expect it to be in perfect or mint condition and the evidence of day-to-day use adds a lot ambiance and character to any piece of furniture. 

References
Carron, Christian G., 1998, Grand Rapids Furniture: The Story of America's Furniture City:  The Public Museum of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 244p.
Lefever, Joel, 1998, They Make Furniture with Machinery (p. 32-43); in  Grand Rapids Furniture; The Story of America's Furniture City by Christian G. Carron:  The Public Museum of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 244p.   
McNerney, Kathryn, 1994,  American Oak Furniture Book II, Collector Books, Paducah, KY, 222p. 
Swedberg, Robert W. and Swedberg, Harriet, 1992, American Oak Furniture; Styles and Prices; Book I; 3rd Edition, Krause Publications, Iola, WI, 149p. 

There are two principal types of drawer construction that was used for washstands as well as other types of furniture that were mass produced in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

Type of dove tailing on drawers can help identify age
Machined Dowel jointing with scalloped front-early 1870’s to approximately 1890. 
Refered to as dot center scalloping by McNerney (1998).  This type of construction was replaced by machined wedge or dove-tail jointing in the 1890’s and early 1900’s. 

A commode differs from a washstand in that it has the inside-door compartment for sanitary accessories (McNerney, 1998)

Machined Wedge or Dove-tail jointing postdates dowel jointing on most pieces of furniture.

The most commonly used woods were oak, ash, and pine but other woods were also used such as walnut and mahogany.

After the installation of indoor plumbing, they were often used as small dressers in bedrooms or as a catch-all for miscellaneous items in vestibules and the back door entryway areas of houses for gloves, hats, etc..

Washstands consist of a combination of drawers and doors.