How old is this gerstner chest?

hello all

i purchased this gerstner box or at least i hope its a gerstner from an older gentleman with some tools and was wondering how old it is. it has no hardware minus the drawer handles and back hinges. its a 7 drawer black leatherette with eagle lock from terryville, ct and resembles the look of te late 40's early 50's leatherette types but certain cosmetics are throwing me off. first off the lock is the older style lock without the latch, the mirror frame is wooden? possible custom?, rubber stops on all the backs of the drawers possible custom?, on the top of the box the corner nickel plated brackets are more triangular "arrow tipped" like the bottom of the box, and lastly theres a small wooden step built into the inside of the box at approx same heihjt as the bottom drawer. all drawers match with the corresponding penciled in number. no h. gerstner and sons stamp. thanks for looking any help greatly appreciated.

ps: how hard would finding original hardware in any condition be?

thanks
Danny

more pics

I have a leather covered Gerstner tool chest just like it except the mirror in the lid is still present. I was given it and the personal tools it contained by the family of Chuck Titus. Chuck told me years before he bought it second hand from a hock shop in Tacoma WA in 1935 while in his second year as a tool and die apprentice. That makes it 77 years old at least.

A little more on Chuck Titus. He was a neighbor two doors down when I moved into my present home in 1968. When he discovered I was a machinist and had even then a shop full of tools he was ecstatic. I built him any number of stainless fitting and knick-nacks for his boat. In return he kept my indicators in top condition (side line as an instrument maker). We swapped Christmas presents and spent many an evening leaning on the bed of my truck BS-ing with whatever neighbor stopped by. I gave him the run of the shop. He couldn't quite handle the lathe chucks and I often came home to find a note on the lathe to changeks chucks etc. I sometimes left it with a weenie in the jaws. In return he gave me a succession of really small hats.

Chuck was a pretty handy man around the shop. In the early '60's he cooked up a tachometer/rev counter to use on the predicted log boat races he ran every summer (no clocks allowed). He was active in the Elks holding high office hn the local and state organizations. I could go on becaise I lked and admired him. Chuck and I had a close friendship from 1968 to this death in 1988. His family gave me his tool box knowing the regard Chuck and I held for eachother. It's one of my treasures and I've never incorporated his tools into mine. His box and tools are a single artifact probably to go to the local historical soceity on my passing.

Hi, Danny,

That chest was built by one of the Gerstner Co's competitors, of which there were several, at one time. There are some minor details about it which are distinctively different from Gerstner practice.

Some of the other makes of tool chests were a bit better built or higher quality than the Gerstner make, in quality of woods used, or subtle details of fitment. Yours appears to be a high quality chest.

The plated steel or brass corners, latches, and similar parts are available as 'restoration parts' from the Gerstner works, and would most likely be suitable for your tool chest. (its quite probable that the makers of wooden tool chests and cases bought their small hardware parts from the same suppliers, years ago.)

You can find the Gerstner web-site on the internet with a search on......obviously......'Gerstner + chest'.

(I have a small Gerstner chest much like that, which I luckily got rather cheaply on ebay, about ten-ish years ago, by searching weekly on the mis-spelling 'Gertsner' for some time.....and so was the only bidder)

Edited......you were asking 'how old'........and I don't know......in that style, 1915 to 1930 would be an 'educated guess'........I'll try looking through some old catalogues, and see whether I can find any comparables. The wooden moulding mirror-frame was used by a couple of the chest makers, and the combination of that mirror-frame with the Gerstner-style drawer knobs, and the internally-mounted lock should be a clue.

cheers

Carla

I have two chests like this one, one is a Gerstner and looks almost like this one from the front except for the lock, it has the drawbolt style and the other has the same lock as yours with a different mirror frame in the top. Both have the square mirrors as yours.

Your answer for hardware is Machinist Chest

IIRC, he's a member of PM, although I cannot recall the screen name he uses here.

John Ruth

i pulled al lthe gawdy felt off and found the the letters "Mag" penciled in behind the mirror section of this box will this help determine what make?

Hi, Danny,

I don't know, but I'd suspect that 'Mag' could have been a worker who signed her work, a common practice amongst some plant workers, who want to be sure that they aren't blamed for a bad item done by another worker.....'Mag' was a common nick-name for 'Margaret', years ago.

As I said earlier, I don't know which maker built your chest, but there is a way for you to find out, if you are sufficiently interested. Quite a few years ago, now, I got a really nice early small tool chest at our local flea market. The seller was a local man who advertised to 'clean out' garages, basements, and estate sale left-overs, so he had no information about its previous owner.

As a bit of an amusement project, I cleaned, stripped, and refinished the little chest. Two little brad-holes were left where the maker's name-plate had once been, so I'd no idea as to its maker. I was pleasantly surprised to see the very beautiful 'flame' grain of the quarter-sawn oak, and the very high quality of workmanship and fitment. It was significantly heavier than a Gerstner box of the same size, and had a rather elegant pattern of corner-joints.

After re-finishing it, and fitting new extra high quality felt from a pool table felt supplier, I couldn't bring myself to put that box our in the shop.......so I decided to offer it for sale, as an 'antique' on ebay'.

To shorten the story........I got a number of e-mailed questions, asking for photos of this or that detail about that chest. It turned out that there is a small group of specialist collectors of those, who research the obscure makers, etc. I can't remember, the now, who it was they said made the one I had, but it was from New York, and from the 1905-10....or some such.....period. The information about the tool chest collectors group was lost when the computer I was then using 'crashed'.

I'm sure that collectors group can be found on the internet, if you'd care to search for it, and they could tell you what you have. Some of those are now considered 'valuable' as 'collectibles'. I was rather surprised at the price bid for mine, actually.

(and there was a funny aspect to my sale listing of that cute little chest.......I described it honestly, with photos, on ebay, as being generally of higher quality than the Gerstner chests.....which it really was. I got a rather sharp 'nasty-gram' from Kim Campbell, of the Gerstner works, demanding a retraction of that claim. Ms. Campbell also filed a formal complaint against me, with the ebay managemnt, accusing me of demeaning her firm's product)

cheers

Carla

.

Thanks Carla and all for all the input much appreciated!