Hamilton drawer
I was wondering if anyone could give me any information on the age of the Hamilton drawer I just purchased. I got it on ebay for $39. I really liked the drawer pull, and I was hoping that could help to determine how old it may be. I noticed other drawers that were being sold had different pulls. I tried to google when Hamilton changed the pulls, but I couldn’t find any information. Thanks for the help. Oh and this is a pic of a similar drawer. The one I purchased is about 16 by 30.
02-HamiltonDrawerPulls.jpg
In looking through a number of old typefoundry catalogs, this style of case pull was used from the 1890’s until sometime in the early 20th-century. They are shown in ATF’s 1906 catalog, but the style had changed by the time their 1912 catalog had been issued.
Try not to get too excited, there are probably at least 10,000 of these still floating around and in use.
You probably paid a fair value in the antique/furniture market. Letterpress printers would spend considerably less. They are priced fairly high in antique shops that may display only a few, but when print shops are liquidated there are usually dozens and dozens of therm that become available.
Many years ago I helped to get everything ready for an auction of the late Bill McGarry’s letterpress equipment. We emptied out one of his storage lockers and Bill had over 1,000 empty typecases stacked floor-to-ceiling in the back of the locker. We made stacks of 25 cases each and auctioned them that way. I think they generally ended up selling at about an average of $1 per case, but we had to dispose of them all that day.
Rick