Vintage Shopfitting Cupboard Bakelite handles
Dimensions:W: 68cm (26.8")H: 145cm (57.1")D: 61cm (24")
This fab old dark stained pine cupboard (with working lock and key) looks like a quiet and ordinary cupboard when closed, but when the doors open - WOW - instant Industrial storage! Its an authentic piece used in the 30s and 40s for Radio parts and the 50s and 60s for Television spares (bulbs, tubes, fuses etc) in a Radio & TV Supply and Repair shop. Those were the days of CRTs - Cathode Ray Televisions - first demonstrated in the UK by John Logie Baird in 1925. In the 1950's many UK households that didn't already have a TV were inspired to buy one in time to watch the Queen's Coronation, and the boom in TV sales really took off in the 60s. This cupboard and its drawers would have been in constant use.
There are 24 drawers with Bakelite inverted cup handles and name card slots, in 3 rows across of 8 down. The drawers slide in and out easily and can also be positioned half-in half-out to ring changes in the display. The bottom three drawers have lost the cup of their Bakelite handles but this is hardly noticeable and the drawers still function perfectly. The drawers are each 23cm wide and 43 cm deep. Each drawer is 8.5cm deep but there is an additional 7cm cupboard space above each one so each drawer could contain objects up to 15.5cm tall.
It would make an Industrial statement anywhere - you could keep it closed to reveal Da Da! its fantastic interior, or leave it permanently with the doors open wide and flush against its sides, so that its glorious innards are on constant display. Its fab as is, unrestored, but you might choose to paint a drawer or two as highlights and accents, or to change its exterior to suit your own industrial scheme. It's a well-made piece and probably purpose-built so we reckon a one-off.
We love it and we know its provenance, and disposed of the few TV leftovers of its original use so can vouch absolutely for its authenticity. It's a heavy piece but:
As ever, Delivery within Mainland UK* is included in the price. So that's all good.