Help IDing MCF dresser... Edmund Spence?  

Side view of legs on my dresser

highboy variant in same style

Alt Edmund Spence dresser photo... almost identical except the legs

Maybe Jorgen Clausen for Brande Mobelfabrik? 

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/77133659_2pc-clausen-brande-mobelfabrik-dresser-and-chest-danis

@mark737. I think you may be correct. I had forgotten about Jorgen Clausen .

 On a side note;William Hinn designed furniture for  the Swedish Guild Collection by  Urban Furniture. ( Image 1) and very often attributed to Edmund Spence

Jorgen Clausen designed a VERY similar sideboard to William Hinn, hence the possible misattribution of the OP's dresser !

@lexi  Yes, I saw a number of those dressers attributed to Spence.  Gio Ponti designed this dresser with a similar "checkerboard" front for M. Singer & Sons c. 1950.  

Interesting, thanks for the replies guys.

I hadn't heard of Jorgen Clausen, that piece definitely bears some similarities.  However, like the other pieces I see that seem more "definitively" marked as Edmund Spence, the legs on the Jorgen pieces are different.

Using the highboys as an example (all the pieces in each set use the same styles), Jorgen's legs seem to all use that full vertical/parallel/tapered design:

The Jorgen example (for reference)

While the edmund spence pieces I see have a leg that comes out of the corner:

Edmun spence highboy sample

And my piece (and the pieces like it) use a curved leg that extends out of the side but doesn't come "up" like the Jurgen legs.  These pieces also don't have the horizontal cross-bracing from the legs that supports the Jorgen example (the framing is built into the cabinet)

My dresser highboy sample

I get the sense that maybe there was just a moment in time when this checkerboard design was interesting and that all three had variants on the style (likely after one of them first introduced it, like Spence).

I can't for the life of me understand why there's no markings on my piece.  UGH.  If you guys or anyone else has further thoughts let me know, thanks again!

-Rick

Here's another one that appears to have the same leg style as yours.  The stamp is in black ink , and maybe in an inconspicous spot, so maybe you missed it? 

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/55756308_jorgen-clausen-brande-mobelfabrik-double-dresser

WOW, that's awesome.  It's entirely possible I missed a stamp that small... it's also possible the folks I bought it from missed it when they reconditioned it (standard MCM).  Hopefully it's still there and I can find it, thanks for the help!  So happy to finally just know what it is!

-rt

Sure, no problem.  It's not clear from the pictures but it looks like they stamped these on the underside.  

People are misreading the Brande Møbelfabrik stamp when they read the J. Clausen line as indicating the designer. It does not indicate designer.  It indicates the owner of the company was J. Clausen. And this was important because there was another company called Brande Møbelindustri so adding the owner’s name was the Danish way of clarifying the situation.  

That said it is entirely possible that J Clausen did design the pieces made by his company. He would certainly be a likely candidate since he didn’t advertise an architect as the designer. 

People often have a hard time understanding why the Danes didn’t mark everything and they develop all sort skills of insecurities  about this culminating in the stupidity of forging marks sometimes.  The basic thing that needs to be understood is that a mark was not for us and it had its own meaning aside from the false meaning we misapply to it in our belief that it should have what we understand as a ‘maker’s mark’. In the late 1940s marks on danish pieces were exclusively retailer’s marks. Even when they also accidentally indicated the maker, like with a small cabinetmaker, they were marked as such because the cabinetmaker retailed his own pieces. In fact this was the distinction between a cabinetmaker and a factory then. The factory sold to a retailer unmarked and the cabinetmakers sold direct to the public. Except when someone broke the rules quietly and a factory sold to the public directly.  In 1950 this started changing with Carl Hansen and Wegner. They put a maker’s mark on pieces sold to retailers, breaking the rule. And sometimes a retailer would cover the maker’s mark. And by 1960, with the growth of the export market the old rules became more flexible. Some retailers demanded unmarked goods, or that the retailer’s name was more prominent. Some were happy with maker’s marks. But everyone realized that marking was useful to build a brand presence so it became more common. So it was complicated.

@leif-ericson. Thank you. I was hoping you would post! I do remember someone,possibly you, clarifying this J.Clausen/ Brande Mobelfabrik topic before, but could not find it using the search function. 🙄 ( basically I gave up after 1 hour!!)

@leif-ericson  Thanks for the great lesson on Brande and marks in general.  There is definitely some confusion around Brande Mobelfabrik and Brande Mobelindusti.  The Design Museum Danmark Furniture Index lists a number of pieces as made by Brande Mobelfabrik, and none by Brande Mobelindustri, but many (or maybe all) of those listed appear to be by BMI. 

For example, they list this sideboard attributed to Henry Rosengren Hansen as made by Brande Mobelfabrik, but it has the stamp shown.