Identify style/age of oak dresser

The links below are photos of a recent flea market purchase. It is an art
nouveau or mission looking antique solid oak 2-drawer dresser or dressing
table. The mirror mounts are there, but the mirror is missing. The pulls
are copper plated stamped sheet steel, with iron swing handles. There are
no makers marks. Purchased in California.
Any clues of the age or style will be welcome!
Thanks, Roger

Nancy2...

The proper term for iron "swing handles" would be "bales." Those
swinging things are bales.

Lee...

Nancy.... your are correct in the naming of the handles. However, the
proper spelling is 'bail'.
It is regularly misspelled as bale though.
Origin is from buckets with a swinging handle attached at opposite sides
that allowed you to 'bail' out water from a boat.
Lee

Nancy2...

Oops, the watch "bail" is not the rim part, it's the little doo-dad
that is at the top of some of them so you can wear it on a chain.
Sorry. I guess in that case, it would also be bail because it allows
the watch to move/swing on the chain.

Nancy2...

Thanks - I think I took my spelling from an ironworker who cast some
replacements for me
;-) I should have known better.

OTOH, how is "bale/bail" spelled when it applies to a watch? You know,
the rim around the edge of the crystal?

Lee...

Nancy...... I've never heard the term regarding a watch, but on a watch
fob, many have a round ring as a separate item on the top of the fob and
it is called a bail. It hangs over/hooks onto the chain.

Bale, as pertains to watches is the name of a city in southern
Switzerland famous for its watches.

Bill Burns...

Hold up there! The ring around a watch that holds the crystal is the
bezel; the town in Switzerland is Basel. The character played by John
Cleese on Fawlty Towers is Basil.

If you find anything regarding the rim of a watch, let me know. It may
be an American terminology. In Canada, we tend to use/know the British
terms in the language. It's amazing two countries, next door to each
other, and with similar backgrounds/origins can have so many unique terms.
Lee in Toronto

Kris Baker...

Do you have a better image of the entire piece, so we can
compare that top (and sides) with the rest of it?

It looks more like a buffet or sideboard to me, than a dresser.

Roger...

Here are additional pics, in order, of (1) top view, showing nonattached
piece on back of top, that is not original, (2) close-up of copper plated
iron pull, and (3) the full front view.
I like your idea of its possibly being a side table or buffet, being it is
so low - 31 inches. Perhaps it had shelving attached on the back, vs a
mirror. There are two large screw holes about 6 inches from the back,
suggesting shelving, as in a buffet or side table.
Do these pics add anything re possible identification?
Roger
(PS if you double click on the pics, they will expand, as do the last ones)

Kris Baker...

I'm just going by gut feelings, but that top doesn't look right to me.
It looks like it may have been an upright back (of this or another
piece), and was pulled off and used to make a top. It looks more
like a shelf. On the right side of the upright, I see what looks
like a nail or screw hole. That's an odd place for one. Is there
another on the left side of the left upright? Does the back of

Roger...

The top perhaps shouldn't have the 1" overhang in back, if it were a side
table, with upper shelving, but old screw holes and matching age and grain
of 1" solid top suggests it was original, plus there are old, black, screw
holes coming up from the back corners and into the top. When the holes in
the back are aligned with the top holes, it yields a one inch overhang, as
shown. Maybe that is ok for a sideboard, since houses of this age had major,
sometimes one inch baseboards at the base of the walls. Thus, the table back
edge would fit flush with the wall.
In addition, there are four large screwholes in the back third of the top
surface; one pair of holes are 4" forward and 3" inside the back corners of
the top (you saw one of these two). The second pair are 1/2" in from the
back, centered 8" in from each corner. These four holes also suggest
something more massive (than the little board on top now) was attached, like
a mirror or a set of display shelves. The back has no marks nor screws, just
the original worm-holed 1/8 inch plywood that fits top and bottom into
mating grooves on the back frame.\
The moveable piece on top may have been a late modification, to be used
Bottom Line: I would guess the top is original, in its original position.
Thanks for the comments.
Anyone have any idea of the age? I think art nouveau, if that is what the
style is, was 1880's to 1920, roughly.
Roger

the piece look like anything was ever attached back there?

I dunno. I'd like to read what everyone else thinks.

Lee...

Kris..... many years ago I had occasion to visit a convent in old Quebec
city. Each room for the nuns had a item just like this, but without the
embellishments.
It was a very austere combo washstand (i.e. 31" tall) and a small
dresser (they had very little clothing/possessions.
Size was similar, the back piece was similar. Handles were metal and
very plain and were a bail type but with no back plate, just two eye
loops on the outside that they swivelled in.
What do you think?

Kris Baker...

I've seen similar, but not with a top like that (aimed in that direction).