Carved Walnut Bonnet-Top High Chest of Drawers Coastal Massachusetts, mid-18th century, walnut and maple, two fan-carved drawers, cabriole legs and pad feet, original finials, skirt drops and most brasses, upper shell drawer with lengthy pencil inscription (not deciphered), 84-1/4 x 39-1/4 x 19-1/2 in., excellent condition overall, old refinishing, three drawers with replaced/reset brasses, the rest appear to be period and probably original (no plugged holes), minor crack in one pad foot, upper case with two replaced backboards, some knee returns possibly restored (two with later glue), two finials with very small chips at tops of flames, other scattered minor flaws consistent with age and use. Notes: Irving S. Olds (1887-1963) graduated Harvard Law School and received his first appointment as Secretary to Oliver Wendell Holmes, then a Supreme Court Justice. Olds later joined the New York firm of White and Case, of which he was for many years a Partner. Olds was a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (RAS), one of the original group of six American citizens to be elected Benjamin Franklin Fellows, Chairman of U.S. Steel from 1940-1953, trustee of Metropolitan Museum of Art, trustee of New York Public Library, trustee and president of New York Historical Society, Director of Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, Walpole Society member, Society of Colonia Wars and Sons of the Revolution member, and Honorary Counselor of the order of the British empire.. Provenance: Estate of the late Irving S. Olds, sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, January 11, 1964, Sale 2246, lot 189; Property of a Pennsylvania Family; See New York Times, January 6, 1964, article of sale featuring highboy as fine example. excellent condition overall, old refinishing, three drawers with replaced/reset brasses, the rest appear to be period and probably original (no plugged holes), minor crack in one pad foot, upper case with two replaced backboards, some knee returns possibly restored (two with later glue), two finials with very small chips at tops of flames, other scattered minor flaws consistent with age and use