Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
Display:
Hmmm interesting - a Bilnäs stackable glass cupboard unit with added non-factory issue leading. The vertically opening door slides back into the roof of the cupboard. Very Scandinavian (apart from the leading and the cat) ;-)

The Deco china inside would greatly interest a dealer friend of mine in Essex.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Sep 4th, 2010 at 03:52:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Gee, I had no idea! What do you think for a date?

  It, the cabinet, not the cat, came out of my Dad's house and I had assumed it was an old New England piece. I always thought it had come out of my grandparents house from the early part of the 1900's. My folks always called it a barrister bookcase. The bottom three units have plain glass and all the units have these interesting brass straps and corner decorations.   I don't know if they were all originally leaded, or if the top was a replacement piece.

by ElaineinNM on Sat Sep 4th, 2010 at 11:54:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The original designs are in fact US Mid-Western dating to before the 1880s. The range included rolltop desks, cupboards and wooden swivel chairs - the sorts of things you would see in Sheriff's offices in post-Civil War Westerns. They were originally made of oak and were quite heavy.

Sometime before 1900, a Finnish furniture company, based at a place west of Helsinki called Bilnäs (Beakness), bought the rights to the design to make the range in Finland. It was copied exactly. In the 30's a lot of the Finnish range was available in birch. And new designs were added for contract furnishing. Post-WWII a lot of it was taken out of offices and burnt in the yard, fired by a general desire to get away from 'Dour'. Marimekko was a successful post-war company because it brought colour to the home.

Anyway I used to have a house full of Bilnäs, but when you're on the move more it gets to be a drag needing 4 guys every time to move your roll top. I've still get some cupboards and chairs, but I finally sold the old roll top before this last move.

And in the synchronicity dept: the maestro of distressing, who builds all the Bonk machines and artefacts, is currently making exact reproductions of your barrister's bookcase. They sell very well.


You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Sep 4th, 2010 at 01:51:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The label says Globe-Wernicke Company out of Cincinnati Ohio.

See them all over the place in the Midwest.  The stacks were interchangeable with clear, leaded, leaded-beveled sections.  You'll find them in all sorts of different configurations.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Sat Sep 4th, 2010 at 02:09:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
A Bilnäs fancier with far greater knowledge than me once told me about the original US company, but the details are long gone.

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Sep 4th, 2010 at 02:16:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hard to put a date on it, but I would guess Edwardian (first decade of the 20th C) by the wood colour and finish. I'll have to unpack some more books and see if I can find my Bilnäs bible.

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Sep 4th, 2010 at 02:01:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The china is a discounted Studio Nova line called Attitudes.

We bought ours when Mikasa was 'last chance' remaindering them out.

Its a good quality 'everyday-fancy' set of tableware.  

The bookcase is US normal 1910 era design.  We like the Craftsman, as it is called here, furniture and between inheriting some and buying the rest - before it became popular and prices skyrocketed - we have quite a bit of it.  Looks great in our 1910 era mud hut adobe home.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Sat Sep 4th, 2010 at 01:57:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I should have said Deco-themed;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Sep 4th, 2010 at 02:02:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:

Occasional Series