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 ELASTIC STORAGE
by Fred Taylor
STACKING BOOKCASES
Almost every antiques auction sooner or later has one.
And almost every mall has at least one filled with "dustables"
and breakables. If you ask about them you probably will
be told it is a "barrister" bookcase made by Globe-Wernicke
in Cincinnati around the turn of the century and that
they are fairly rare. That's at least partly right.
Globe-Wernicke did make stacking bookcases in Cincinnati
around the turn of the century but they certainly were
not the only one making them and they were not aimed
primarily at the lawyer market and they were not made
strictly around the turn of the century and they are not
rare.
Otto Wernicke opened a furniture factory in Minneapolis
in 1893 and moved it to Grand Rapids in 1897, around the
time when Wernicke patented his idea of the
multi-section stacking "elastic" bookcase. It could be
expanded by adding separate additional units to a crown
and base. In 1882 a Cincinnati businessman named Henry
C. Yeiser started a new "office products" company he
called Globe Files Co., eventually coming up with the
idea of a cabinet that could store files vertically
instead of flat on a shelf. Yeiser took an interest in
the stacking bookcase concept, feeling it would fit well
in his company and purchased the Wernicke factory,
renaming the company Globe-Wernicke. The original
marketing thrust by G-W was to libraries and businesses,
natural targets for the office supply industry. The
"barrister" moniker followed years later. After that the
race was on. An English manufacturer named Thomas Turner
started marketing the design in England, forming The
Globe-Wernicke Company, LTD to market throughout Europe.
Otto Wernicke returned to Grand Rapids and bought the
Fred Macey Furniture Company in 1905, renaming it
Macey-Wernicke. The principal product of Macey-Wernicke,
later renamed simply Macey, was - surprise - a stacking
bookcase that looked identical to Globe's. Of course
Globe-Wernicke sued Macey-Wernicke for patent
infringement on Wernicke's original patent. Macey
eventually won but meanwhile that left the door open for
others to join the fray and they walked, or ran, right
in.
One of the early competitors was the Gunn Furniture Co.
right there in Grand Rapids. Gunn started out in 1890
making folding beds and by the turn of the century had
expanded its product line to over 80 designs for desks,
as well as sectional bookcases. It patented a stacker in
1899. By 1910 it was a major player in the "elastic"
market making sectionals with fold down desk
compartments and pigeon hole interiors.
This certainly looks like a Globe-Wernicke
bookcase but it is missing the interior labels. That
means it must be identified by the style of the
cabinet, the exterior hardware and the door
suspension. (Flomaton Auction, Flomaton, AL photo) |
Skandia Furniture Company of Rockford, IL patented
its own line of oak stacking bookcases in 1908, calling
it the "Viking" line. During the Depression they
marketed three different styles of Viking, Mission,
Standard and Colonial using numerous woods including
plain and quarter cut oak, birch, walnut and mahogany in
a variety of finishes.
Everybody's favorite purveyor of oak furniture, The
Larkin Soap Company, even got into the act. In its 1908
catalog it introduced the No. 310 Sectional Bookcase. It
could have been yours for a mere ten Larkin gift
certificates. It consisted of a base, a crown and one
each 9, 11 and 13 inch units. You could buy additional
units of any size for three certificates or get a
"starter" kit of base, crown and one 11 inch unit for
five certificates. Of course it came in quarter cut oak
with the standard polished Golden Oak finish. By 1917
the number had changed to the No. A10140 Sectional and
the price of the basic three unit set had risen to a $28
purchase or $28 worth of coupons. It also now came in
birch with a polished mahogany finish and in fumed oak
finish. By 1922 the new unit was available for a cash
price of $25 or $50 worth of coupons.
Another competitor was the F. E. Hale Mfg. Co. of
Herkiner, NY. They offered a model called the "Herkiner"
with leaded glass in two sections, one above and one
below a drop front oak desk unit and Udell Works of
Indianapolis had a stacking model.
Most of the manufacturers stopped making stacking
bookcases by the mid 1930s during the Depression era.
The most commonly seen brands will be Globe-Wernicke and
Macey in today's market. But of course there were many
other makers of the so-called "barrister" bookcases
other than just the seven listed here. They all used the
same basic design and wood so many times it may be hard
to tell a Larkin cabinet from a Gunn from a Globe,
especially if the bookcase has been refinished and the
labels are conveniently missing. The devil is in the
details for distinguishing makes from one another,
primarily in the type of hardware and suspension method
used to hang and operate the doors.
Missing hardware and suspension parts used to be the
kiss of death for the sale of a Globe-Wernicke or Macey
cabinet but in today's market there are several
companies that can provide exact duplicates for the
missing pieces. One of the best among them is Rufkahr's,
P.O. Box 241384, Memphis TN 38124-1384, (800) 545-7947,
http://rufkahrs.com/hardw8/bkcase.html
Send your comments, questions and pictures to me at
PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423 or fmtaylor@aol.com.
Visit Fred's website at www.furnituredetective.com. His
book "HOW TO BE A FURNITURE DETECTIVE" is now available
for $18.95 plus $2.00 shipping. Send check or money
order for $20.95 to Fred Taylor, PO Box 215, Crystal
River, FL 34423.
Fred and Gail Taylor's video, "IDENTIFICATION OF OLDER &
ANTIQUE FURNITURE", ($29.95 includes S & H) and a bound
compilation of the first 60 columns of "COMMON SENSE
ANTIQUES by Fred Taylor", ($25.00 includes S & H) are
also available at the same address. For more information
call (800)387-6377, fax 352-563-2916, or e-mail
fmtaylor@aol.com.
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