A top-drawer piece of Canadiana heads for the auction block

An antique tall chest is up for auction in New Hamburg, Ont. Its drawers hold nothing, save for a story that involves a famous pioneer, a mystery cabinet maker and a significant work of Canadian literature.The piece is known as the Bricker Chest, and if it could talk, it would do so in a Pennsylvania Dutch accent. Samuel Bricker commissioned the nearly six-foot tower of walnut for his eldest daughter’s wedding in 1826. Bricker was a wealthy Pennsylvania-born Mennonite who was among the first migration of settlers into the interior of Western Ontario. On Saturday, the cabinet is expected by the gavel wielders at Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. to fetch as much as $8,000. Or possibly more.