JEFFREY LAPLANTE ON COIN CABINETS

I had read The History of United States Coinage as Illustrated by the Garrett Collection by Q. David Bowers, and in that book Bowers kept mentioning the cabinet. It kept coming up, over and over - the Howland Wood cabinet, the United States Mint cabinet, the Garrett cabinet. Then about a third of the way through the book there was a picture of Garrett's desk and the cabinets containing his coins. They were beautiful and then a few pages later Dave pictured an advertisement from about 1885 which had an illustration of a cabinet for sale.

I wanted one, and because I am a history nut (and coin nut) I thought it would be real cool to have a nice wooden cabinet to display my coins. So, I went off and searched like a madman to see if anyone still made these things and I could find nothing. I even looked up the company in Ohio who had the ad from the 1880s. That company was still in business making handmade wooden cases, but mainly for tools and they were very expensive. Very expensive is actually too mild, they were extraordinarily expensive.

Well, long story short and usually the way things happen, I am a longtime subscriber to The E-Sylum and there was an article on coin cabinets in that week's edition. Bingo. I sent an email to Craig MacDonald and eureka, so now I am the owner of beautifully made Cabinets by Craig original. It is stunning, the craftsmanship is exquisite, and I could not be happier.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web