We discuss the likelihood that asbestos was was used in the construction or lining of this small antique chest.

Construction of a small Antique Chest

Question: do you think this vintage chest was constructed using Asbestos?

My son uses this vintage chest as a toy "treasure chest". I'm not quite sure what the box is made of. It feels like some wooden/wood fiber base. The top might be of glass fiber plastic, but I'm not sure. The metal and leather details feel authentic.

What I'm most concerned about, is the lining fabric. It is quite frayed. Could this kind of lining fabric contain asbestos? Or would it be safe to assume that it is pure cotton? - Anonymous by private email 2019/12/26

[Click to enlarge any image]

Reply:

I trust you will understand that I can't know what a material is made of from your photos. I can't actually see the substance of material but from your description it sounds like a wood fiberboard product. Your options are to have a sample tested, probably leave capsule it all the surfaces, or just remove it from use.

Typically these older chests and boxes were made of wood, sometimes fabric lined and fabric covered. Common fabrics would have been canvas, cotton, jute or "burlap". In the same era some travel cases, boxes and trunks were covered in leather.

Reader follow-up:

So asbestos could have been used in this kind of inner fabric?

Moderator reply:

It's not likely unless the chest was intended to be fire-resistant. If you can show me some sharp-focused photos of the fabric and of the edges of the board that make up the chest, and give the product age, country and city of origin or location, and show any stamps, labels, markings, patent numbers, that'd permit more thorough research.

Reader follow-up:

I don't know anything about the age or history of the chest. (It was purchased by my mother in law on a flee market, and she gave it to our son as a Christmas present.) There is no print or label on it.

I tried to take better pictures. I previously wrote that the top might be of glass fiber plastic.

But the outside of both the box and the top might as well be some kind of painted canvas. As you can probably see from the pictures, this outside material is also in bad condition, quite frayed at the edges.

The core is probably of wood (ref outside bottom picture). Inside the lid there seems to be an additional thin board, on which the inside fabric is fixed.

Moderator reply: are you $100. curious about asbestos in this chest?

I'm still unclear: is the body or structure of the chest wood?

Covered I see with some unidentified coarse weave fabric.

Could be canvas, burlap (jute), even an asbestos fabric if there was some particular reason for fire resistance (as I suggested earlier).

Sorry but by eye I doubt anybody can tell you what the fabric is for sure; even more-difficult as it's painted.

I'd be happy if you were so curious as to send one or more samples to a certified asbestos test lab such as EMSL - figure $100. or so per my latest conversation with that lab.

Reader follow-up:

I'm kind of nervous of peeling back the fabric, in case it indeed is asbestos. Tearing the fragile fabric could release fibers (?) I tried to take still one more photo of the exposed outer fabric, which I think is quite sharp. Attached. Does this help?

Anyway, to be on the safe side, I'm going to remove it from use, as you previously suggested.

Moderator reply:

So what we have s an old wooden chest of unknown age and origin, wooden body, leather handle strap, metal fittings, apparently fabric-covered; it's not likely the the fabric is asbestos, more-likely, given the apparent age of the chest as not-modern, jute or "burlap" fabric.

On occasion someone will "reinforce" or "repair" such an antique by laminating its surface with fiberglass fabric. That would be easily identified by examining the fibres and by looking for the epoxy coating and body of the fiberglass.

Your chest looks like painted fabric.

Watch out: given the apparent age of the box I wouldn't rule out that the paint contains lead - a child hazard.

Perhaps by publishing your photos and our discussion here an informed reader or two will have additional useful comments.

You never know where these investigations may lead - sometimes just looking at a bit of newsprint glued inside a chest or finding a name on it can become interesting.

See this companion article

ANTIQUE CHEST Ricketts - Strause HISTORYY which did turn out to have a long and convoluted history.

You don't give the country and city of probably origin or where your vintage chest or box is located now, nor its dimensions. Both of those would be helpful.

Depending on its age and size this could have been a hat box or a blanket box or simply an organizer. The leather handle argues for its construction before plastic handles were popular, therefore probably before the 1950s.

Using a reverse image search on "TinEye.com" found no matches; Using a similar image search combined with the phrase""fabric-covered wood box" found somewhat similar images but no exact match using Google's image search engine.

...

Shown above, a fabric-covered wooden "Hat box travel trunk - John Wanamaker New York", for sale on eBay in 2019.

Reader follow-up:

The chest measured approximately 12 x 6 x 8 inches (width, depth, height).

...

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