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Goetz Cabinet finally on Terra Firma

cachemancacheman Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭
edited July 15, 2020 9:08PM in World & Ancient Coins Forum
The 6'8" door to the left of the cabinet gives you a good reference to the size of this thing. 76" tall X 38" wide, 102 drawers. I'm thinking my collection is only going to fill 35 of the drawers at this time....15 drawers for the WWI satirical series alone.

Still in good shape even though the original construction is from the late 1700's.


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Comments

  • cwtcwt Posts: 291 ✭✭✭
    Really neat! Where did you find it?
  • cachemancacheman Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Really neat! Where did you find it? >>



    Bought directly from Goetz Family in Munich.
  • coinkatcoinkat Posts: 22,719 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Quite the museum piece... very nice.

    Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.

  • ColinCMRColinCMR Posts: 1,482 ✭✭✭
    glad to see taht it arrived safely!!
  • JCMhoustonJCMhouston Posts: 5,306 ✭✭✭
    You're going to have fun filling that baby up. It looks great.
  • adamlaneusadamlaneus Posts: 6,969 ✭✭✭
    Sure hope that is not the exhaust, nor intake to your furnace that is directly behind that cabinet!

    Freakin' insanely crazy great cabinet!!!



  • No doubt about it - that is freakin awsome!!! what a catch Scott.

    Shep
    image
  • IosephusIosephus Posts: 872 ✭✭✭
    What a great piece of history and furniture!
  • BlackhawkBlackhawk Posts: 3,897 ✭✭✭
    Very nice.
    "Have a nice day!"
  • worldcoinguyworldcoinguy Posts: 2,999 ✭✭✭✭
    Its a beauty with an amazing history to share.

    Maybe an AU-58?
    image
  • Thanks to you from all of us for sharing this beautiful piece of cabintry. Olmanjon
    Proud recipiant of the Lord M "you suck award-March-2008"
    http://bit.ly/bxi7py
  • Amazing!!!!

    Oso

    Successful BST transactions with:CollectorsCoins, farthing, Filacoins, LordMarcovan, Duki, Spoon, Jinx86, ubercollector, hammered54
    LochNess and ProfHaroldHill

  • dizzleccdizzlecc Posts: 1,111 ✭✭✭
    Awesome.
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,934 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It's just really cool that it gets to live with someone who really appreciates it. Kudos for doing what it took to get it and to take care of it. I suspect you'll continue to make interesting discoveries with it. You already think more like Goetz than his own family did!
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • Awesome. Make sure you show us some pics inside the drawers after they have been filled with the goods.
  • cachemancacheman Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭
    In case anyone might be interested.

    Conservators letter report reads as thus:

    RE: Wooden Cupboard of German Origin
    Measurements:Height: 76 3/4 inches
    Depth: 19 3/4 inches
    Width: 40 1/2 inches
    The wooden cupboard is in two pieces with 102 sliding trays; the lower case having two doors on a raised base and the upper case having two doors, with molded panels in a frame. The entire surface of the cupboard is a painted "Faux bois" finish with graining done in an imitation of highly figured walnut. This coating disguises the fact that both cabinets are constructed in pine wood and veneered with another wood. The applied moldings of the upper case are cherrywood.

    The construction techniques used in both cares are of traditional 18th century mortise and tenon technique with dovetail joinery. The lower case has nails that are late 18th or early 20th century manufactured and appears to be original to its construction. The upper case has wooden pegs used to hold boards in place. The sliding trays were used to contain bronze art medallions and plaster casts. The flat surface of all the trays had been covered with different fabrics to cushion the art work. The trays had the dirty fabric removed and then vacuumed.The fabric is to be returned to the owner.

    In my estimation, the upper case is of 18th century German origin and the lower case of late 19th century origin. These two cases were paired together at that time and given the faux bois graining in imitation of walnut.

    Treatment of the cupboard consisted of examination for structural integrity which is intact and damage to the finish. The finish has sustained numerous scratches and abrasions resulting in some loss to the paint coat. Also, the case was quite dirty. As a result, the cupboard was cleaned and touched up the paint losses only in the most glaring places with removable paints. The cupboard was subsequently waxed and polished before personal delivery to the owner.



    The drawers are made from quarter-sawn oak and framed in cherry. This wood is 100-225 years old...long past the time to worry about outgassing from the wood. When Goetz was using it he had the drawers lined in a beige velvet. Since it has been sitting in humid conditions since at least the mid-80's, the material has become filthy and musty. I am relining the drawers with archival, black velvet.
  • HussuloHussulo Posts: 2,953 ✭✭✭
    Well the conservator has done a super job and it looks smashing.

    I'll echo other members remarks and say it couldn't have ended up in better hands.
    Awesome find and I hope you have many happy years with what is truly such an important piece.

    Regards,
    Hus
  • TwoKopeikiTwoKopeiki Posts: 9,528 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • DentuckDentuck Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭
    This deserves to be written up in the Token and Medal Society Journal. I'd be happy to help any way I can. What a great piece of history!

  • DorkGirlDorkGirl Posts: 9,994 ✭✭✭
    It's so awesome!! Thanks for sharing the pics with us.
    Becky
  • Great post! That looks great, and the history is amazing!
    imageQuid pro quo. Yes or no?
  • I would also give it an AU58, but the addition of the pedigree is priceless image
  • zeebobzeebob Posts: 2,825
    I read the letter that indicated the upper and lower sections were from different periods. However looking at the photos, I'd say the work done to match the two pieces really pulled it off. They two sections look like they belong together. Very Very nice! Have fun filling it up.
  • Be sure to check for any secret compartments maybe containing some rare patterns!image
  • pendragon1998pendragon1998 Posts: 2,070 ✭✭✭
    I would be also be concerned if that vent behind the cabinet was blowing warm, dry air on the cabinet. You don't want it to dry out the wood or something horrible. It's a beauty!
  • cachemancacheman Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭
    UPDATE: I just spent the last four days lining drawers with cotton padding and topping it with black velvet. This turned out to be more time consuming than I had imagined. The entire collection transfer is just about completed and it looks like I will be using up half of the available drawer space. This means I have 50 drawers filled. I gave the medals room to breath this time around since I have the extra space. I must admit that they do look nice in their new home. The oversized pieces (too thick for the drawers) will remain in their current home in the oak geology cabinet I have been using. Many of the master reduction models and plaster moulds will stay there too.

    Once this project is done, I will start cataloging and photographing Goetz's engraving tools and letter punches that I bought at the same time with this cabinet.

    One more note, I just received back the Award Certificate Goetz won posthumously from the "Il Exposicion Nacional De Numismatica E Internacional DeMedallas. Madrid - 1951, 18 Noviembre - 2 Ocrubre". He won the silver medal but never saw this award. I purchased the certificate along with the cabinet and immediately sent it to Joel Oppenheimer in Chicago for restoration and conservation. The certificate looks like new now and adds some authority to my ever growing Goetz ephemra collection. I'll try to get this imaged for all to see if there is interest.

    That's all for now...S
  • spoonspoon Posts: 2,798 ✭✭✭
    I know I've said it before, but damn man! that's turning out to be an awesome collection!

    And didn't you use to collect Morgans or something? imageimage


    BTW, I don't follow the magazines/journals, have you thought about writing articles for the different numismatic publications to get awareness out in advance of your cataloging project? This story of the cabinet and reassembling so many pieces of his working environment would be fit for the press, I'd imagine. 'Course it'd bring more competition to the hunt too, though.
  • cachemancacheman Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭
    didn't you use to collect Morgans or something?

    I hate to admit it, but yes...for a very short time out of ignorance/newbyism. I then changed to Crown-sized coins both British and German...then switched to Cityview Talers.

    I saw the "Black Shame" medal in a German coin reference book advertisement which led me to Karl Goetz...I finally found my collecting strategy niche. Mostly Goetz but I still have a small, but respectable, Ludwig Gies collection that slowly continues to grow too.

    I've got to eventually write something but now the push is focused on web site content for my full-fledged website which has been under development for two years. When you've got a thousand or so pages to write/populate, debugging, images, etc., etc., it takes more time then I had imagined. Perhaps the first newsletter from the site should contain the info about the entire collection, even though I have multiple galleries which will illustrate it already developed and populated.

    Increasing the competition isn't a problem...a few more serious and strong-willed collectors would only increase the value of my collection image. In fact, that is one of the reasons I am building the web site, to expose people to most everything known about Goetz and perhaps get them interested in collecting his work. My focus isn't wholly on the nedals offered in the open market as Goetz as it is finding the derivative designs and medals by him that haven't been attibuted to him as yet. He actually did a lot of stuff most people aren't aware of and I am mostly focusing on that for now....new collectors wouldn't affect my work.

    Now, if only I could magically wake up one morning and find that I could both speak and comprehend the German language....I would be a happy man.
  • You have a truely amazing collection. I am proud to say I know you and that you share your collection with us.

    First class collection leaves so much to be said.
    Becoming informed but still trying to learn every day!
    1-Dammit Boy Oct 14,2003

    International Coins
    "A work in progress"


    Wayne
    eBay registered name:
    Hard_ Search (buyer/bidder, a small time seller)
    e-mail: wayne.whatley@gmail.com
  • cachemancacheman Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭
    edited July 15, 2020 9:15PM
    Here a eleven drawers picked at random...not so good images but you can get an idea nonetheless.

    image
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    image
    image
    image
    image
    image
  • Wow, amazing pieces in an amazing cabinet image
  • Damn Scott - this is one incredible collection!!!! The photos of the medals in the drawers shows them off beautifully.

    Shep
    image
  • WWWWWW Posts: 2,609 ✭✭✭
    Scott, you just blew my mind. Seeing his medals in this perspective is simply amazing.
  • StorkStork Posts: 5,205 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It has been fun watching all this over the last few years....I still want the coffee table book imageimageimage. Truly an awesome endeavor!


    Cathy

  • MadMartyMadMarty Posts: 16,697 ✭✭✭
    Very nice!!! and once again, thank's for sharing!!!
    It is not exactly cheating, I prefer to consider it creative problem solving!!!

  • Major eye candy...
    image
  • cachemancacheman Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭
    Major eye candy...


    K80 The Spring, 1900, Cast Bronze, Uniface, 230mm. RRR

    From Goetz's Paris Period.

    Only two were cast
  • theboz11theboz11 Posts: 6,576 ✭✭✭
    Great additions to your collection, It looks superb. Well Done!image
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Had to bring this one back to life. I have yet to see such passion and commitment to a theme.

    Awesome!
  • laurentyvanlaurentyvan Posts: 4,243 ✭✭✭
    The K80 is remarkable-I'd love to have a high quality image of that to frameimageimage
    One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
    is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato
  • spoonspoon Posts: 2,798 ✭✭✭
    Drool on, Laurent! image

    image

    (from Scott's site - karlgoetz.com
  • OchoRealesOchoReales Posts: 1,500
    Super. Love it. Great provenance! image
    Lurker since '02. Got the seven year itch!

    Gary
  • laurentyvanlaurentyvan Posts: 4,243 ✭✭✭
    Drool on, Laurent!

    What wath that you thed?image

    I'm drowning in my spittle,
    surfing on saliva.
    I'd do anything to own K80
    and that really ain't no jiva!image

    ed to add: ahhhh, new desktop wallpaper...(what's the wife gonna say?)

    One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
    is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    bump. I propose all glancing at this thread again.
  • theboz11theboz11 Posts: 6,576 ✭✭✭
    That is just beautiful, well doneimage
  • I remember, during the active collecting phase, opening this forum and seeing a new post by cacheman. I knew that I was in for a treat! The images and writeup about each were super. Thanks for bringing this back.

    Dan
    The glass is half full!
    image
  • HyperionHyperion Posts: 7,438 ✭✭✭
    Wow. no words for that one!
  • This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen!! It is truely inspiring to see a set and cabinet like that image
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