Franklin D. Roosevelt's Chest

by Adam
(Seattle, Washington, USA)

I inherited this chest from my mother's antique collection and was hoping to learn something about it from the forum. An interesting story always surrounded this piece while I was growing up in North Carolina, but I have no proof that the story is true.

As told, this chest was once Franklin D. Roosevelt's when he lived in The White House. I've recently done a few web searches to access photos of the Roosevelt White House, but I need to do more digging in this area. My mom acquired the chest as part of a large collection she purchased and the FDR story was passed along by the seller who always referred to it as "The Roosevelt Chest." The only other thing I know about the chest is that it generated a little stir with an antique appraiser (not specializing in chests) that thought it was extremely old and pointed out the blacksmith work (e.g., what appears to be hand-hammered hardware).

Thanks for any insight or comments about the chest! I also have additional pictures of the details.

NOTE: The chest has not been in my possession for sometime, so it's quite dirty and the photo doesn't really do it justice.