A unique and very large haberdashery wall unit by Brimble & Briggs, a Cape Town shopfitting factory that was operating in the first half of the 1900's.
This unit was bought at an auction in 1960 by then owner of an iconic shoe and clothing factory reject shop on the Salt River circle in Cape Town. After three generations, the shop has now finally closed its doors.
Like with so many of the shopfitting units of the time it was made with a variety of wood types and considerable cabinet making skills. The frame and drawer fronts are oak, and the rest of the drawers are oregon. It has a set of sixteen large and deep drawers on the left, with glass fronts, and a collection of thirty-two smaller drawers on the right.
The unit has four large storage compartments beneath the drawers. The two ends of the cabinet were treated differently by the shopfitter - the one has a solid oak panel, and the other a plywood panel.
Condition: Good, refurbished with some wear that is in line with its vintage.
Dimensions: 53 x 260 x 193 cm (h)
Says the last owner of this cabinet and some others you can see here and here:
"My grandfather was Louis Jacobs. He spoke very little English, was of Lithuanian descent. A shoemaker by trade. My father did his trade in the clothing industry as a machinist of sorts. He later joined his father and started selling factory rejects in 1961. The first factory shop in Cape Town! The business was renamed in 1962 to The Reject King and became an icon in the 60's through to the 2000's. The first memory of the cabinets in our shop was in 1948. My father bought them from auctions and liquidation sales."
-Colin Jacobs
