Anyone have or ever see a Chapman cabinet?
Nap
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An old advert in the AJN and possibly elsewhere mentions a coin cabinet designed (and patented) by Henry Chapman, of the coin dealer fame. I've seen many English and French coin cabinets but very few that were designed in the US. I am curious whether anyone owns one of these or has ever seen one. Wonder if he actually sold many (any), $28 - $55 could buy a lot of coins (and other stuff) back in 1878.
I was thinking of trying to try my hand at copying the design, though I don't know if my rudimentary woodworking skills are up to the task. Might be a fun project though.
Of course I realize wood is not the best storage for old coins, but worry not, the coins I collect are over mostly over 1000 years old and spent most of that time in the dirt, being exposed to all sorts of weather, so I can't imagine a little wood gas would hurt them. Plus they usually live in a bank vault anyway.
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Looks nice, but haven't seen one. Good idea may be a market for this or something like it. Would wood gasses matter with slabbed coins or are they airtight enough? If you could just locate a blueprint. Edit to say a safe would be a safer storage option.
I have seen one. It had maroon velvet on the shelves. They weren't using it for coins because of the tarnish/hairline possibilities.
No, but my gosh there are hundreds of different coin storage wooden units. Here are just 20 or so. Unreal, never dreamed their were so many exotic wood storage furniture. Can't imagine what they would cost.
/www.pinterest.com/pin/21392166959355940/
Jim https
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wow very nice, but couldn't you by a house back then for 55 bucks
Steve
That is a very beautiful and functional coin display cabinet. I had never seen it before but it is great.
Probably not quite that cheap, although I think Sears homes could be bought for a few hundred dollars around the turn of the century (you still needed to put it together). And land was ‘dirt cheap’, farmable land was probably around $5/acre and even cheaper in the Midwest.
Never heard of it, never seen it. Googled it, and there are none anywhere - eBay, Pinterest, auction houses, you name it.
Given the cost, it seems unlikely many were made/sold. Given the fragile nature of the thin sidewalls, it doesn't look like a piece "built to last". I would reason that if you were able to find one, it would be rare and valuable (condition specific of course).
I love the idea of trying to replicate it. If you do take a stab at it, it would be cool to see the results.
Here's another picture I found. Neat post.
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy
Seems the family were quite the inventors
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Interesting info
https://sites.google.com/a/numismaticmall.com/www/numismaticmall-com/chapman-dealership
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That's really cool. A modern day version that has cut-outs to hold slabs would be neat.
The only thing disheartening about display cases is that they are a burglary / theft target. I'd love to create
a really nice display but it's not worth it to me.
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I seem to remember a thread here in the forum of somebody repurposing a dresser to function just like this chapman cabinet. The poster showed images of the progress he was making in transforming the dresser. It was pretty cool.
It could have been @bodin ?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/988892/new-cabinet-case-project-update-wednesday-nov-22nd
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Very interesting concept....I have a three coin cabinets, none of which are this design. I like coin cabinets for storage of my many coins that are raw or low value. Cheers, RickO
@Bodin also did the one below, sharing progress from beginning to end. It took him just under 4 months - it was a fun post to follow.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/11561915#Comment_11561915
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy
Which Chapman brother lived in this one?