The logo reads SGCD but couldn't find much neither. This chest of drawers has been sold by a famous french auction house and has the same handles: http://www.drouot-morand.com/html/fiche.jsp?id=2497570&np=15&lng=fr&npp=...
After another quick search...
The logo is from US importer Gunnar Schwartz Company and the designer is Hans C. Andersen.
http://www.designaddict.com/forum/General-discussion/Origins-Selig-Gunna...
http://www.xcapemodern.com/bedroom_large_9.html
Couldn't find the maker though.
Glad i could help and repay a little bit the help I always got from this forum. However I must admit I am a bit confused by this designer:
1. Hans C. Andersen is the name of the famous danish writer. I guess Andersen is quite a common name in Denmark but here even the middle initial is the same...
2. If you google for Hans C. Andersen work, there is never a maker stamp on the furniture. Why would some furniture maker advertise the designer but not the brand?
3. The only examples of Andersen name associated with a brand I could find is with Gunnar Schwartz Co., the US importer.
Would it possible that Hans C. Andersen is a bogus designer? I can easily imagine some kind of marketing genius coming up with the idea of stamping a danish name on a furniture to give it a more authentic feel and increase its value. And the only danish name they knew was the one of the writer. Indeed witout internet, how many danish names would you know?
Or... The designer's parents had a very strange sense of humor.
But then, your table and specially the handles are really nice. I would be surprised that it's a generic, "no name" piece.
What do you guys think?
Well some huge percentage of denmark shares the same last names, due to the popularity of certain first names in the parents generation when patronyms were ended. Hence there are many many Andersens, Hansens, Christiansens, etc. So it is actually rather likely that there are now and have been many Hans C. Andersens in Denmark. (The complexity of Danish names can be quite interesting).
So I see no reason to think this designer doesn't exist. There were many, many designers, and many of them are lesser known than Hans Andersen.
The lack of manufacturer is odd, but I wouldn't think too much of it, or at least I wouldn't make it mean that the designer is a fiction. Perhaps these were private labeled for Gunnar Schwartz, plerhaps exclusively. Selig would be a comparable case. And it was quite frequent to market the designer so his name got stamped on there.
Here is a specimen marked as Gern Møbelfabrik. (Advertised as designed by Ejvind Johansson, but I would disregard that as Lauritz is highly unreliable):
http://www.lauritz.com/en/auction/ejvind-a-johansson-kommode-af-teak-ger...
There's also not a lot of variety in first names in Denmark due to the government requiring parents to choose from a list of approved names for their babies. You can use a name that's not on the list but you have to get it approved first.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/08/world/europe/08iht-danes.html
That article is from 2004 and maybe they've relaxed a bit since then but it would have been the the law when this H. C. Andersen was born (if he existed at all). There are probably more Hans C. Andersens. It's probably on par with "Robert Johnson" in the US.
Thanks again Leif for your input on my Hans C. Andersen? end table. The images you show from the Lauritz auction house is very similar, but not an exact match to the work especially noting the drawer pulls.I measured the wafer style pull and it's overall width is 7". The recessed inset width of the solid wood drawer face that it rests in is 3.5" wide so it appears to be a more streamlined design that the Lauritz piece.
Thanks to all of you for your help with identification of this little jewel.
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