Posted 7 years ago
Usmctank84
(1 item)
I found this item from a guy wanting to empty his property so the house could be demolished. I had went to his house several times picking items up and had always been interested in this cabinet. The owner of it had minimal information about it but was convinced it was a doctors or physicians cabinet. I spoke to a local antique shop owner today about it and he said he didn't believe it was a doctors or medical cabinet because those all tend to be metal, which makes sense. He said to start looking at pie safe or pie cabinets. I've researched extensively about everything and have came up blank. Here's what I know: the cabinet itself appears to be a tiger oak wood mixed with a tiger oak type laminate. The glass panels are lead glass, there is a secret compartment on the top that opens up and looks like the items you put in there would fall down the back of it to the floor. I was thinking maybe in a break-in/robbery situation things could be safely stored back there? I'm not entirely sure. The cabinet is 2 pieces (top and bottom) and is amazing. The interesting part is that the cabinet has several factory holes in each side, some spaces closer together and some further apart. The shelves aren't original and it's missing it's locks. I know the pictures aren't the greatest but those were at his house. I ended up purchasing the unit today and was planning on finding another piece of furniture that's tiger oak to canabolize it for shelves. If anyone has any idea on what this was originally, a time period or anything about it please feel free to email usmctank84@hotmail.com. If more pictures are needed I can supply those also.
I don't know what it is---but I want one. Looks very handy for collectors that need show space and drawer space. Very nice. and glad you were able to get it!!
Thanks! Yeah I absolutely love it and have not seen another one like it. We own several antique booths and also have another business that revolves around repurposed items..I've never ran across one like it at all. If it is a pie safe/cabinet, it would be very unusual for it to have glass from my research. Thanks so much for your posting!
Well, I spoke to a craftsman that I've known for a long time and he told me it's not out of the norm that it could be a custom piece that the original owner had made. He said he's never seen it either. Both sets of doors have iron clading on the inside of the doors. There's several feature on this cabinet that seems extremely unique. Anymore feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone!
Semper Fi,
Mike
Adding to mystery, or maybe giving new focus, comes from a very similar family piece. Missing from this family piece are the holes in the sides of this posted cabinet, or whatever it might be. Only metal are hinges & escutcheons.
I would agree with the earlier owner that it may well have been a physician's cabinet. Early doctors and dentists did have wooden cabinets...and often beautiful ones. (This paragraph puts me at odds with antique person's view.) In my own study of pie safes, jelly cupboards and similar antiques, this is not a pie safe. Not even a reinforced pie safe!
Furniture samples are often more typically shown in miniature however. This leads me to this next 'wondering'.
Wondering if it could be a prototype of particular furniture...and was commissioned by a doctor specializing in Laudanum, or other forms of opioids that needed to be kept under lock & key. This might help date it. Does it have any scent or smell in the drawer or behind the doors?
Another word which keeps running through my mind...and so must suggest it. Speakeasy. How could it tie to an early Speakeasy, which would begin about last 1/4 of 1800s? Not for storing unlicensed liquors, but some other related 'precious' commodity. Are there any reinforced places with metal?
Those unexplained holes...hmm...perhaps to tie/lash/secure this posted piece to a wall. Maybe on a ship. Now that's a new thought to follow! Too late here for me to start that thread!
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The family piece mentioned is a bookcase-secretary from Baltimore great-grandmother. Her father was an importer. I'd date it mid-1800s. Made in three pieces. Four if we count the marble 'slab' extending across the midsection of this tall piece.
It's beautiful mahogany veneer in certain curved places, with solid wood in others. The top, separate from the bottom, has a simple bonnet around it. The top sits back just as the top in these two posted photos do. The marble is placed on wood just below & in front of the two glass-paned upper doors. Behind the glass doors are smaller, narrow drawers.
The wide drawer below the marble extends completely across this bookcase-secretary. The drawer serves as the writing surface for the secretary. There is a felt piece on this surface. Blanking suddenly on more detail.
Lower two wood-paneled doors cover two open shelves. I can mentally unlock from the interior the left door to release that door at this very moment! When my sister & I examined furnishings of this family estate...decades of neatly, folded wrapping paper (most used, and some familiar from prior Christmases!!!!!) was behind these two lower doors. We continue to laugh about this discovery! Again...no details come to mind about the base or legs of family bookcase-secretary.
PS: Did you ever find your replacement shelves??? Hope so!