Old Bookcase

I’ve bought something (which is a little more original than my post title...) This is it.

Well, that’s part of it. Pictured is a 3-piece bookcase which I’m told came out of a bank which was estimated to have been built in the 1920’s.

It has gorgeous roller doors that are in great working order and originally, grip handles were cut into the wood to slide up and down. As the story goes … there was much outcry by the secretaries due to perpetual broken nails so steel handles were added somewhere in the 40’s and have been attached ever since.

On initial inspection I was going to remove the handles, but I love the stories that make up a piece’s history so they’ll stay as is (whether it’s true or not…) The one negative is that these bookcases were built for the books size of the day – which is little. They’re not very deep. Thankfully ‘A’ loves reading second hand biographies and our encyclopedia collection from memory is old so that’ll fill up some of it.

I have a bank of 3 which is pictured and another bank of 2 which are constructed and just need a little bit of love. I could have them professionally restored but I like their imperfections and lack of polish. I’ve measured up the office and they fit harmoniously on two walls (so the measuring tape states). There are another 2 that have not been constructed yet, so we have some work to do. We’ll either keep them in storage or sell – so stay tuned if this kind of thing tickles your fancy.