Vintage stamp cabinet

[Clay Parrish]

I've been wanting to share this with y'all for a while. I thought someone might find it interesting, and maybe I can get some thoughts on taking care of this cabinet.

This is an old oak stamp cabinet used in the Post Office Department (the precursor to the US Postal Service). My great-grandmother ran the local Post Office in Summerfield, NC. When they shut down her office to move to a new building (I believe it was in the late 1950s or 1960s) she took this cabinet and it's mate. One went to my father, and another to his brother. Dad says he remembers them using it to store money and stamps when he was 9, back in 1960

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I think the cabinet is really cool. It's solid wood construction with three drawers and a locking hinged panel on the front. The key is really worn down with use, and I need to take the lock to a locksmith for new pins and to have a key custom made (nobody I've talked to has suitable blanks). I keep it unlocked, since the key tends to stick.

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The top drawer is separated into 9 compartments: 6 square ones with curved bottoms in the front for coin and 3 longer ones for bills. The middle drawer is a simple large space - until you pull it all the way out, revealing a secret compartment for hiding small valuables (probably where they stashed larger bills). The base has a small partition that is missing the original thin dividers, as well as a removable solid wooden tray apparently meant to hold more change.

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The finish is original, although I am sad to say that as a child, I put some marks on it. It has been carried all around by its various owners, so it has plenty of nicks and marks, but that's 'history' - right? I am concerned to say the wood appears to have some little splits in a few places. I'd like to know what the best way is to take care of the wood while preserving its patina and history.


On the bottom, it is marked:


(Stamped in ink
------------------------
INSPECTED

JUN - 8(?) - 1950

R.(?) P. WOODY

POST OFFICE DEPT.
------------------------


(Burned on
------------------------
National Cabinet (logo)

L. I. City
N. Y.
------------------------


(Stenciled on
----------------------------------------
PROPERTY OF THE POST OFFICE DEPT

309 STAMP CABINET 1950

NATIONAL CABINET CO. L. I. C. N. Y.
----------------------------------------


L.I.C.N.Y. is Long Island City, NY.


Can anyone tell me anything else about it, or how best to maintain it so my children will be able to one day enjoy it?

[Clay Parrish]

A few more pics

The key:
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Bottom:
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Top:
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Side:
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[Jim Koepke]

The key is really worn down with use, and I need to take the lock to a locksmith for new pins and to have a key custom made (nobody I've talked to has suitable blanks).

It is common for security locks to have key blanks not available to the average lock shop. This is probably one used way back then and would be a real find to come across one today. You might have some luck if you know a machinist who can customize a key blank that is close.

jtk

[Brian Tymchak]

Nice antique! Personally, I wouldn't do anything to it except the bare minimum to make the existing lock functional. don't refinish or repair the cabinet. Just keep it away from sunlight and air vents. Original state is almost always more desired, both from a value perspective and I would think an heirloom perspective. I would keep the original key with the cabinet, even if you have a new one made.

[Charles Taylor]

Very nice! Somewhere in my collection of incomplete projects, I have a vintage mail sorter, roughly 4' square-ish by 12" deep, oak exterior and maple (?) shelves and dividers. Before I got my hands on it, though, someone had taken out most of the dividers, put a back on it, and painted it for use as a bookshelf, so restoration, not preservation, is the name of the game. The original destination labels were preserved on one side, which is really fortunate.

Some time ago I stripped most of the paint. Sooner or later I'll get back to it and return it to more or less its original appearance.

My wife was born in the Marshall Islands and spent a lot of her childhood on Kwajalein. When the old post office there was dismantled, her dad got his hands on the door of their old P.O. box and turned it into a bank before giving it to her.

Old Post Office survivors make nice pieces.

[Clay Parrish]

Nice antique! Personally, I wouldn't do anything to it except the bare minimum to make the existing lock functional. don't refinish or repair the cabinet. Just keep it away from sunlight and air vents. Original state is almost always more desired, both from a value perspective and I would think an heirloom perspective. I would keep the original key with the cabinet, even if you have a new one made.

I definitely don't want to strip it or do anything drastic. I'm concerned that over the years the wood has dried out to the point it is getting a few cracks that I don't want to grow larger. Probably, when it has been moved while loaded in the past has not helped. Is there some sort of wax or wood conditioner that would be appropriate for an antique?