More tills in chests & boxes

A follow-up look at some tills that didn’t make it into the first post on the subject. Tills in chests have to fit around the stiles somehow - we saw some in the previous post where the till lid is notched to swing past the inner corner of the front stile. At the rear stile, these till lids are squared-off at their ends. These chests present the flat surfaces of the rails and stiles inside the chest - so simple enough for the till lid to work there. Here’s an example done that way, from the Savell shop in Braintree, Massachusetts.

till detail, John Savell chest, c. 1660-1690

But some chests have a different approach- they cut away a notch in the top end of the stiles to square off the space where the till lid sits. Then the till lid is simply squared off. This one from Plymouth Colony is cut this way - it’ll take me 2 photos to show, these were shot back in the 35mm slide days - in this first shot you can see the notch at the top of the rear stile, with the till lid open.

Plymouth Colony chest with drawers, decorated till

The next photo is with the till closed - showing the front stile notched to receive the squared-off till lid:

same chest, till lid detail. Notched stile, molding till lid