My Antique Coin Cabinet

Wisconsin · June 22, 2003 5:27AM

After a day and 900 miles of driving I had a fairly succesful antique buying trip including this nice little cabinet I found In St. Paul, Minnessota. It is made of walnut and I would say circa 1860-1870. The two outer panelled doors lock. Inside is all drawers of various sizes. The top few are felt lined. This is as close as I have come to finding an old coin cabinet for myself. Does anyone have any original pictures of cabinets made for coins in this period??

Any ideas or comments about if this may be an original coin collectors cabinet are appreciated, or whatever else you think its original use may have been.

Thanks,
Jay

kamehameha00 · June 22, 2003 5:29AM

ooooooooo prettiful ill give u 2 cents and a pulltab and a piece of ABC gum for it.Deal?

airplanenut · June 22, 2003 5:29AM

That's really cool! Plus, now you can get those cabinet toned coins

cosmicdebris · June 22, 2003 5:29AM

That's a nice cabinet.

Russ · June 22, 2003 5:32AM

I believe that is, indeed, an original collector's cabinet. I saw one similar at an auction site a while back, although yours is somewhat larger.

Russ, NCNE

TONEDDOLLARS · June 22, 2003 5:50AM

I gave up the hunt for one and finally made my own. I made it out ofwalnut, that my son bought me for birthday back in Feb. I liked how it came out so much I am now this weekend putting together a larger one. My first cabinet has 9 drawers in it. The one I'm building now has 12 draws in it.

Wisconsin · June 22, 2003 6:01AM

I am out buying junk almost everyday and it is very difficult to find something like this. There are many cabinets out there with different drawer configurations, but finding ones with locking doors is a different story. This one made my day.

The idea of cabinet toned coins sounds great, but I doubt that they will tone inside the slabs.

Jay

morganbarber · June 22, 2003 6:56AM

Great find. I covet that more than most of the coins which get imaged here.

laserart · June 22, 2003 10:14AM

Though that cabinet could be used for coins and may very well have been designed for that purpose, the first thing that came to my mind was a cabinet used for surgical instruments in a doctors or dentist office. I have seen some cabinets of montrous proportions to hold dentists tools.

JRocco · June 22, 2003 12:53PM

That is a really nice cabinet. Think about how much fun its going to be filling that puppy up...

MacCrimmon · June 22, 2003 1:41PM

Cool! If it doesn't have velvet compartments, you could maybe fill that baby with some of these
or something similar.

Nice find!

coinlieutenant · June 22, 2003 1:54PM

Great find!!!

I spent all day Friday looking for a coin cabinet in Alton, IL with no luck!!

Let me know if you find anymore.

Might I know how much you paid for it so I might get an idea of what the going rate is. Antiques are similar to coins I know (pay what its worth to you) but a guide would be nice.

John

Merc · June 22, 2003 1:58PM

That is a huge coin cabinet. I had a friend buy one that was 18 inches high and 24 inches wide. All of the drawers were felt lined and had dollar sized depressions to hold the coins. I'm not sure if your cabinet was made for coins. It seems to large for that.

Dog97 · June 22, 2003 2:06PM

My first thought was a machinist's tool chest.
It's kind of big & excessively ornate for that. I think laserart is on the right track.
Hey it's neat whatever it was originally designed for.

Wisconsin · June 22, 2003 2:19PM

It is alway hard to be sure of anything. The measurements are as follows:

24" wide
15" deep
40" tall

I don't believe it would have been a dental cabinet, as I think it is too short for that, compared to the others I have had over the years. They generally seem to be 5-7 feet tall. It is a nice cabinet regardless, and being that it is big just meens I get to buy more coins than the guys with smaller cabinets

Jay

Loki · June 22, 2003 2:31PM

<< <i>Though that cabinet could be used for coins and may very well have been designed for that purpose, the first thing that came to my mind was a cabinet used for surgical instruments in a doctors or dentist office. I have seen some cabinets of montrous proportions to hold dentists tools. >>

Yes my dentist has an excellent display of antique cabinets and surgical tools in his office. I believe I have seen something similar to this cabinet in his office. He likes to kid around and start pumping up the antique drill (looks kind of like a loom with a big wooden wheel) whenever he gets ready to do some work. Really makes you shudder and want to jump out of the chair to ring his neck lol.

Nice find and I'll bet your coins would look really impressive housed in there.

michael · June 22, 2003 4:21PM

a really neat cabinet but in my opinion i think it was NOT USED for coins or medals

sincerely michael

Robgetty · June 22, 2003 4:45PM

Looks like a jewelry armoire to me; nice idea to use one for coins!

ultramike · June 22, 2003 5:13PM

This cabinet i'm sure is an old medical or dental cabinet-the coin cabinets I've seen were almost always covered in some sort of felt or velour.
I've got an old precision insturment case ( FOR MICROMETERS, CALIPERS, ECT VERY PRECISE TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS) that holds about 400 slabs-its just tuff to move about.
hope this helps and is my opinion only as ive only collected medical equipment since 1975.
Regards
Mike Rogers
ultramike@collector.org

Cam40 · June 22, 2003 5:48PM

Cool. The Antiques Road Show comes to the forum..
No trace of a manufacturer anywhere? Knowing that
could help track down an age and maybe its intended use.
Seems there are varous possibilities for its use actually.

It would be fun to build something like that for your coins.

( the wheels are turning in my head now.....)

Cam40 · June 22, 2003 5:54PM

one

two

I found on Google.

RNCHSN · June 22, 2003 6:08PM

Cam 40

That place is only 20 minutes from home! Maybe I'll buzz down and look! (Can't buy one now as I'm saving to have spending cash for the Baltimore show)

northcoin · June 22, 2003 6:48PM

But how do you fit that thing in a safe or a safety deposit box? Of course it would be a great place to store and display all the Gallery Mint reproductions.

Cam40 · June 22, 2003 6:52PM

Ya, Its not actually a safe,so I,d just keep it in a really secured room.....with a big lock on the door.

pmh1nic · June 22, 2003 10:25PM

My wife says it's a sock drawer.

remumc · June 22, 2003 11:26PM

Merc,

My little brother has a cabinet like you describe. He said it was full of pocket watch crystals when he bought it.

Regards,

Wayne

laserart · June 23, 2003 2:11AM

<< <i>But how do you fit that thing in a safe or a safety deposit box? Of course it would be a great place to store and display all the Gallery Mint reproductions. >>

Sometime around 1978 or thereabouts I built a custom interior for Cartier Jewelers in Manhatten N.Y.. Measurements were taken of the inside of the safe and and several low profile drawers were made to their specification. I installed the entire assembly on site of course. A few weeks later there was a problem with one of the drawers because somebody there in the store insisted on jamming it in instead of making it go in smoothly. I had to remove all the drawers to make a correction and when I did I found a gold chain that had gotten caught on something and fell down behind everything right to the bottom. They had missed it almost right away and fingers were pointed in every direction as to where it could have gone. I was glad to have been the one to have found it as it reinforced the integrity of the company I worked for.

numonebuyer · June 23, 2003 2:20AM

That is an awesome cabinet.

I have two built in curio cabinets in my house. Glass on both sides of each.

Numonebuyer

topstuf · June 23, 2003 2:25AM

Seems to be a dental cabinet.

Key is the depth of the bottom drawers.

Unless someone made 3 inch thick pieforts, those drawers are too deep for coins.

Maybe for DEEEEP toning.

Still go with dental. See if it smiles if you scream.

jonesy · June 23, 2003 2:42AM

After you fill that Baby with coins, send me your address!!

ScarsdaleCoin · June 23, 2003 4:09AM

I remember a few years back I was working at the Alantic City Antique show and came upon a furniture dealer selling what he thought was a tool type cabinet used by a dentist for around $950 dollars....I explained what it was and even opened a few drawers...we actually found a Indian head cent in one...as I was leaving it took the sign down crossed out Dentist Cabinet put up Coin Cabinet and added a $1 in Front of the $ 995 $1,995....so see coin dealers arent the only ones out there LOL

jbsteven · June 23, 2003 4:45AM

<< <i>as I was leaving it took the sign down crossed out Dentist Cabinet put up Coin Cabinet and added a $1 in Front of the $ 995 $1,995....so see coin dealers arent the only ones out there LOL >>

laserart · June 23, 2003 4:46AM

That sounds like the dealer suddenly had a useful purpose for it.

Shamika · June 23, 2003 4:52AM

Those drawers look way too deep to be a coin cabinet.

njcoincrank · June 23, 2003 11:53AM

Very nice piece of furniture.

Unfortunately I don't believe it is a coin cabinet. As someone said earlier, the drawers appear too deep for coins. Also, while I have seen a few, not many of the cabinets where self-standing. That is they generally where placed on some other piece of furniture.

If I had to quess, I would say this is either a jewelers cabinet (for keeping spare parts and tools), or most probably used in the medical field.

Nontheless, it is a great piece and certainly could find a home in the house of a coin collector.

njcoincrank

My Antique Coin Cabinet

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