Antique French Buffet from St-Malo

Exquisite antique French buffet from the St-Malo, Malouin region of France and what makes this French buffet so special and so unusual, besides the obvious, it’s incredible visual impact, is that whomever originally built the buffet, designed it so that it completely disassembles, allowing it to maneuver 90-degree tight hallway turns, or fit into those petite elevators. We have seen this type of construction on 20th buffets, but never on a real antique. Our antique Malouin buffet was actually sold circa 100-years ago, by an antique dealer in Fougères. Ironically our favorite antique dealer, Antiquités du Coste, used to be located on the Rue de Fougères. Judging by the dealers shipping tag, it appears to be circa 1920’s and states; Mr. Bérest 47 rue Victor Hugo, Brest, France purchased the buffet. The dealer was; F. Battais, 38 Rue Kléber, Fougères. The area of Fougères dates back to the Neolithic era, 5000 to 2000 years BC. The Fougères castle dates back to the 11th century and was built by the Lords of Fougères, while later it became the stronghold defending the borders of Brittany. Our old plank restoration department, has completely disassembled the buffet and has gone through every joint and connection, all the while conserving (over 160 hours of labor) the original patina and we did note, that the nails were handcut and much of the hardware was handmade one-of-a-kind pieces. We chose to conservation route, in lieu of restoration, so not to disturb the patination. This antique French buffet, has that indescribable WOW factor, that is such a rarity today and it is completely original from top to bottom. We would have normally dated this antique French buffet late 1800s, but while disassembling, it appears to be quite a bit older, just how old, we honestly don’t know, so we’ll leave it late 1800s until we learn more. Please note the escutcheon on the right is missing its top detail (image 12) and there is a water ring on the top, left corner (image 4).