restoration old chest drawers

I rescued this old chest of drawers as my nan has always hated it and was about to throw it away. It looks quite ugly - but I dabbed at the drawer front today and it came up beautifully, and I think it' has a mahogany carcass and drawer fronts - the drawers inside look like oak. It has the original handles, I think (brass?) and I want to take them off so that I can do justice to the front of the chest ... but where the screws go into the drawer, the ends are covered with a metal/brass (?) stud ... see pic ...does anyone know if these can be removed without damaging them? I would like to replace them when I've finished if possible ... would really appreciate any suggestions ....

Welcome to the forum Pandora

We have a few fellows here who will jump right in to your draws I am sure

Good score BTW hope you have it sorted soon:2tsup:

The caps look like the old style nut covers that are metal and have 3 teeth that dig into the timber and can easily be pryed off. The old handles have actually a bolt with a nut on the end and the cover , covers the nut so that the clothing that is put into the drawers doesn't get caught on the bolt end that is sticking out of the nut and torn. If the handles are original then they would have a nut and bolt.:2tsup: