I totally love this—check out this freestanding print storage and display case. It's shown in a catalog of the Milwaukee Photo Materials Company from roughly a century ago. It has four leaves or boards for print display that turn like the pages of a book, more space for display on the back, and drawers for proofs and loose prints.
Awesome! I'd buy one of these for $45. Kudos to the late Mr. T. R. Bowring of De Pere, Wisconsin.
Okay, I guess $45 was a little bit more back then.
Mike
(Thanks to James Erlandson (a.k.a. Speed))
UPDATE: I did some quick digging about T.R. Bowring. Turns out Thomas R. Bowring was a professional and portrait photographer in De Pere (now a suburb of Green Bay) who lived from 1878 to 1947. His father, Thomas D. Bowring (1844–1897, buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Brown County) was also a photographer. You can see some of Thomas D.'s work online at the Wisconsin Historical Society, and these two pictures for sale on eBay might be the work of father and son:
The picture on the left, obviously by the Bowring studio, is c. 1890, when Thomas D. would have been 46 and his son Thomas R. 12; assuming the right-hand picture taken twenty years later was also taken by the Bowrings (a fact not in evidence!), then it would have been taken by Thomas R., who was 32 by that time, because his father had passed away. (eBay item number 400304384080.)
And finally, via the De Pere Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 19, is our photographer and cabinet designer himself:
It's pure conjecture on my part, but I'll bet he designed his print display case for his own business, and then took it to market thinking he had a winner on his hands. —MJ
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From Ed: "According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Inflation Calculator, $45 'roughly a century ago' (1913) is $1047.18 today (2012)."
Mike replies: That still seems a little cheap for that complex and apparently well-built piece of furniture, doesn't it? I don't know, maybe it was made in China.
From wtlloyd: "I'm a cabinetmaker in Southern California. $45 today will buy you one of the large bottom drawer boxes from my suppliers. Not the drawer front or cup pull or slide hardware, just the inner box."
Too small, where are you going to keep your Gursky?
this is more like it
Posted by: hugh crawford | Wednesday, 26 September 2012 at 04:57 PM
Hugh,
Finally, proper storage for my art collection! [g]
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Wednesday, 26 September 2012 at 05:28 PM
A fine piece of bespoke cabinet-making. Shaker-like in elegant simplicity and functionality.
Furniture, handcrafted in China around that time, would have used fine exotic hardwoods (maybe Cedar). It's joinery and finish would have been just as fine but more elaborate. And definitely cheaper, until you shipped it Stateside. Unless of course you spirited it out aboard Sand Pebbles.
Posted by: Sarge | Wednesday, 26 September 2012 at 08:32 PM
Lovely old catalog, too! We can note that back then, just as today, a good Zeiss lens will cost significantly more than the camera to mount it upon, but those early ones don't keep their value (if adjusted for inflation).
Posted by: MarkB | Wednesday, 26 September 2012 at 11:35 PM
Dear Mike and Ed,
The cost of living index typically underestimates real changes in buying power by 1%-1.5%/year. So, a more proper estimate of the price of that cabinet today would be $3,000-$5,000.
Still worth every penny.
pax / Ctein
Posted by: ctein | Thursday, 27 September 2012 at 02:15 AM
This reminds me of the painting room in the house of Sir John Soanes (architect). By incorporating large hinged panels into three of the walls of a small room, he managed to hang as many paintings as you would expect to find in a large gallery.
Posted by: Steve Smith | Thursday, 27 September 2012 at 03:11 AM
WolframAlpha gives 1045.28 for 45 1913 dollars in 2012, CPI of 3+% over that time period.
Posted by: Dennis Allshouse | Thursday, 27 September 2012 at 09:51 AM
Calculating inflation/buying power over time is such a tricksy thing... We don't buy the same things decade after decade, and the prices of the things we do buy are changed by all manner of factors that aren't inflation.
And don't bet that the cabinet was "handcrafted from fine woods" - by the turn of the century, cheap(er) furniture from mass factories was already well established in the market. It doesn't appear particularly complex either, being of straightforward case construction. Hanging those inner leaves would be a bit tricky because of the confined space, but other than that they're just simple frames with a panel.
Posted by: Derek Lyons | Thursday, 27 September 2012 at 10:08 AM
iPhoto for the Victorian household?
Posted by: Kevin Purcell | Thursday, 27 September 2012 at 12:40 PM
According to my inflation calculator the case would cost 1,047.00 now.
Posted by: Owen R Auer | Thursday, 27 September 2012 at 10:12 PM
What a wonderful way to display pictures! Just add some lighting, and it is perfect. Bring out my hammer and saw, but first I have to free up a bit of wall and floor again!
Posted by: Jan Kusters | Friday, 28 September 2012 at 02:48 AM