Antique Japanese Sea Captain’s Chest

Note: We will be consulting with an auction house about this item but if you are interested, let us know.
 
We believe this was inherited from the Burr family. Based on our online research, it is a ‘chobako’ ledger box ‘funa dansu/tansu’ shipboard chest, where valuables would have been stored in the captain’s quarters. It has hand forged iron detailing, and we believe the exterior is made of keyaki wood (Japanese elm) and the interior of Paulownia kiri wood, possibly with a layer of lacquer. The front has two ‘kakute’ style (half square angled) handles, used as drawer pulls, which we read are considered the oldest form of tansu handles. The side handles are ‘warabi-te’ style, a classic form. While most have drawers inside, ours has shelves behind the iron bar sliding door. 
 
The top drawer is opened by a ‘stealth’ locket within the iron flying stork shape. It takes some time to figure out how it works. The bottom section must have had a lock that attached to the latch on the left side of the door section. Within the door section are three small drawers (one of which appears to have been broken at some time) and a shelf. The door must be open for the barred section to slide over to allow access to another shelving section.
 
We believe this piece dates to the 19th Century, but we have yet to find documentation in the family books about it. The 2730 sticker shown in photos refers to our grandparents’ home at 2730 Vallejo St in San Francisco, where this item must have been delivered at some point. A red sticker with N on it denotes they passed it on to Nancy, our mother.
 
This piece has not been professionally cleaned and you can see the decades of tarnishing on the sides. It comes with cracks and some chipping. See photos for more details.
 
Our mother has a note inside referring to it as Sendai, which we believe means from Sendai, a city in Japan.
 
She used it as a catch all next to her front door. We did not even realize what it was at first as it was a very dark space! 
 
H 19 ½” x L 21” x W 17 ¼”
Weight unsure. Very heavy. Takes two people to move it.
 
Disclaimer: We have tried to make sure colors shown in photos are representative of the real colors of each item. We have tried to identify all imperfections in descriptions, but we may have missed some. If you are unhappy with your purchase, let us know.