Pen Cabinet

[Shaporama]

A few weeks ago I stumbled onto this small (approx 12"x12"X12") dental cabinet in an antique stores in Montclair, NJ. It still held hundreds of molar bands, bicuspid band and lingual attachments (those of you who wore braces in the 1960's know what I am referring to). The owner would not budge on price, not then, and not three weeks later when I returned to find it still on the shop floor, but I bought it anyway.

 

As you can see it has six drawers that I calculate can hold upwards of 100 pens. To get a sense of the scale I photographed one of the drawers holding my Montblanc 149, 146 and 144. The exterior appears to be walnut, each drawer also has a clear plexiglass panel that slides into place to cover the contents. The wood is in pretty good shape, my wife has talked me out of refinishing it (for the time being), I plan to line each drawer with slotted display trays from Gopens, and will replace each of the plexiglass panels because they are very badly scratched. Not only is the cabinet a beautiful piece of furniture, but each drawer can be removed and displayed individually if I want to show off some of my collection.

 

I like the look of this so much that I am now hunting around for more (there is a vigorous dental collectibles market on eBay). Anybody else discover and use dental cabinets to store or display their pens? What about linotype drawers or something similar? If you do, please show us.

Edited May 11, 2014 by Shaporama

[my63]

That is going to make a fantastic home for your pens

Edited May 11, 2014 by my63

[ajlmarques]

That looks amazing. Will probably start looking for something similar for myself

[purplepen]

Beautiful find - I am envious !

[risingsun]

Fabulous! Here's mine:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/241044-pen-storage-solution/

And:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/240073-where-do-you-keep-your-pens/?p=2690020

Edited May 11, 2014 by risingsun

[ajlmarques]

Fabulous! Here's mine:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/241044-pen-storage-solution/

And:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/240073-where-do-you-keep-your-pens/?p=2690020

 

Show-off

[Shaporama]

That cabinet is gorgeous! What did you use to line the drawers?

[risingsun]

Same as you, Gary's trays from GoPens...

[jdwhitak]

+1

 

That cabinet is beautiful! You should sell it to me

[APPLEMAN]

My finds

 

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr15/APPLEMAN320/IMG_0909.jpg

 

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr15/APPLEMAN320/IMG_0912.jpg

 

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr15/APPLEMAN320/IMG_0688.jpg

 

My wife calimed this one

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr15/APPLEMAN320/IMG_0693.jpg

 

 

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr15/APPLEMAN320/IMG_2677.jpg

Edited May 16, 2014 by APPLEMAN

[jdwhitak]

Anybody here using a Gerstner tool chest? I can get it in kit form for $239.

[da vinci]

My finds

 

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr15/APPLEMAN320/IMG_0909.jpg

 

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr15/APPLEMAN320/IMG_0912.jpg

 

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr15/APPLEMAN320/IMG_0688.jpg

 

My wife calimed this one

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr15/APPLEMAN320/IMG_0693.jpg

 

 

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr15/APPLEMAN320/IMG_2677.jpg

Love those floor standing storage facilities!

 

Are they map chests?

[Ronnie67]

I see these cabinets quite regularly. I am in the dental supply business and they are actually quite common.

[ddyager]

Those are all gorgeous, really nice!

I've been looking quite actively also. I bought an antique Gerstner with six full-width drawers, which has turned out well for about 110 pens. The full-width is more efficient than many smaller drawers. Many spool cabinets/chests look like they would be excellent, although they seem generally to be prohibitively expensive. My best find so far has been a couple of six-drawer watch crystal cabinets. They are faux woodgrain metal and not very pretty, but they very efficiently hold 150 or so pens each. (Sorry I don't have photos - am at work, maybe later when I get home.)

David

Edited September 14, 2014 by ddyager

[MrThoth]

Some nice stuff! Very inspirational in re: my constant search for cool things to store the stuff I collect in.

 

However -- those of you who are storing pens in what are, or look like, map cabinets need to Knock It Off and send me those cabinets for use in storing my antique map collection, OK? Let's not start crossing the streams.