Antique chest of drawers alteration.

[Silfi]

I would be grateful for advice from anyone familiar with antique methods of furniture construction. My daughter has asked me to convert an early 20th cent mahogany 4 drawer chest into a blanket box. ie make the fixed top into an hinged lid.
How is the top attached and what chance have I got of removing it with minimal damage? Is it likely to be glued or screwed?
It will not be a valuable ( intend to buy second hand) piece of furniture and am not looking for 'professional' result.
Any help would be useful as I have no experience of antique furniture.

 

[Myfordman]

Almost certainly a few screws up from under the top frame. Pull out the top drawer and take a look.
Possible snag is if the back is a thin panel with little strength then you will need a stronger top back rail to hinge the lid off.
May remove the top, cut off about 50mm from the back edge of the top and refit to the chest and hinge the rest of the lid off that?
Take the drawer bodies apart and fix the drawer fronts to the frame.
Based on what you will need to do, check the item you buy for ease of the transformation.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

The sides of antiques commodes are usually dovetailed into the top and as myfordman has said the backs are usually quite thin. That aside, even if you do convert the top into a hinged lid, what are you going to do with the drawers? If you remove all of the drawer linings and fix the drawer fronts to the divides you are then left with a very deep box, too deep to practically get anything in and out unless your daughter has exceptionally long arms!!! Also in my experience a storage box with a hinged lid is a real pain as you would naturally put items on the top to display, each time you need to get anything in or out you have to remove the bowl/ vase etc. If it were me I would save myself the trouble. If your daughter really wants this type of furniture why not just buy a mule chest? It will do what she want and you will be able to pick one up for about the same price as a commode.
Here are a selection of mule chest available now. Search | Mule Chest | The UK's Largest Antiques Website

 

[Silfi]

Thanks to Myfordman and mrpercysnodgrass for the useful advice.
I only intend to change the top 2 drawers into a chest. The idea is to maximise the storage with a small footprint -- looking at chests 1200mm wide x 1200mm high. Getting the smooth running drawers my daughter is used to will be difficult without metal runners.