Antique Genoese Coin Holder, 1600s

Antique Genoese coin chest from the 1600s built with a walnut structure and poplar drawers veneered in walnut. Louis XIV walnut coin cabinet with twenty-one drawers and central tabernacle door, Liguria, 17th century. The front has an architectural layout outlined by two vertical rows of four drawers, each of which is marked by a double panel of frames. In the center the base of the newsstand hides a fake drawer; above it between two Doric columns in a niche inside the central aedicule we find the erect figure of a faun carved. Above this a pediment with a broken gable hides a further drawer; in the center of the tympanum we find a diabolical image which is repeated in the fusion of each handle. The side edges are decorated with three orders of men-at-arms, sculpted warriors and carved figures.

The coin cabinet rests on an important frame and two bracket feet while the upper part has a frame with a carved dentil decoration. By opening the central door you can access six drawers in two rows.

The coin chest is full of secrets: one is hidden behind the drawer of the central base; in the castle of the six drawers located behind the door we find another compartment behind the row of the two lower drawers. By removing the castle from its seat we find, at the rear right corner, a compartment with three drawers hidden by the vertical sliding of a poplar slat.

This Louis

It is in a good state of preservation consistent with its time, with splendid original hardware from the 1600s. Note the similarity between the diabolical effigy carved in the center of the pediment and the plates on the drawer handles.