Gunn case

No not for weapons.

This so called barristers bookcase was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the USA.

My Lithuanian born grandfather arrived in South Africa in 1898 and entered the ostrich feather business. This booming sector was extremely popular with the immigrant population and offered many job opportunities.

His travels took him to the United States, probably to sell feathers into a lucrative market. Fashion and burlesque demanded fine quality feathers and the South African industry was able to supply the world until changes in fashion and the First World War resulted in a collapse of the industry.

He brought back this stacking bookcase on one of his trips to America and when I emigrated from SA I brought it with me.

As far as my research has shown, it was made by The Gunn Furniture Co (Grand Rapids MI), a successor to The Gunn Folding Bed Company.

They operated from 1893 to 1953 and were licensed to use the GRM triangular trade mark on their products. This bookcase has the sticker on the back.

This was issued to protect the industry from poor quality furniture and was used from 1899 to 1913.
This narrows down the year of manufacture.

It is made in the flat pack style with no screws or fixing needed to slot it all together.
It is showing its age and is empty because I dismantled it and rebuilt it to make it a little more stable.

The fragment of parquet flooring you can see is laid throughout our flat, the ground floor of a large house built in about 1905.

So the bookcase and floor are certainly of the same era.

PS Analogconvert13, as you know, he is your grandfather too!