Amberg Stacking file cabinet, a globe accessory?

     Today I’m going to walk in a bit of a different direction.  For a long time I’ve been collecting lots and lots of globe related ephemeral items.  Everything from catalogs, handbooks, to advertising about old American globes .  I’ve got easily over 50 pieces of this material, a reference catalog of sorts related to American globe manufacturing , sales and use.   I love thumbing through and learning from this resource, but it’s been gathering dust in a plastic tote, if my collection is to gather dust it must do so in style! Enter this Amberg stacking file cabinet.

     I’ve been on the hunt for just the right cabinet to hold all of my globe curiosities,  and I think I’ve found it.  This piece dates from the first quarter of the 20th century, and was manufactured by the Amberg letter file company( NY, Chicago) . 16 drawers measuring 11×20 inches each . Perfectly suited for storing many small volumes flat.
      The cabinet has a very unique feature in the two Brass rods that act as a locking mechanism for each side of the cabinet,  they have precisely machined  holes that will accept a small padlock, quite ingenious.  I don’t think this is original, but I do think it’s contemporary to its use.  I can just imagine a library or science lab 100 years ago taking delivery of this item and deciding that whatever they needed to store inside needed protection,  so an enterprising individual devised a most elegant solution.    I purchased this from a very elderly man who owned it for a very long time and couldn’t recall where it was from,  my imagination will have to suffice.

     Now I’ve got plenty of space to store all of my globe related items and a handy shelf to place a few more globes, a win/ win!    As always let’s discuss globes and related topics,  and of course happy hunting……