The Curio Cabinet

I’ve been meaning to post about this for some time and in the absence of anything else interesting to write about there’s no time like the present.

The picture at the top of this post is a picture of an old curio cabinet we have in our family room (our architect, who is also my brother-in-law, designed the room and called it a “hearth room”). First, the cabinet itself. It was purchased by my maternal grandmother at auction about 75 years ago. It’s not a good piece of furniture but I have a strong sentimental attachment to it. I don’t remember a time when it wasn’t either in my mom’s house or mine, filled with interesting knick knacks. It’s fragile and wobbly, its glass is cracked, and some of its many repairs are starting to give out. No wonder I’m attached to it.

Now to the contents, starting at 12:00. We refer to the black pebble as “the Knock Rock”. My mom picked it up in Knock in County Mayo when she visited there. Below that is the baby bracelet put around my wrist when I was a newborn. Proceeding clockwise, next to that is the engraving plate for my parents’ wedding invitation. My dad’s name is misspelled which tells you something about my grandmother.

It’s a bit out of focus but above the engraving plate is a miniature old-fashioned coffee grinder. It reminds me of the several coffee grinders my mom had around her home. If you’ve never tried grinding coffee with one of them, it’s quite a chore.

Continuing around the clock, there’s a compass my dad bought at an army surplus store. The figure of Kwan Yin and the various little carved ivory objets are things that I remember as always being in the cabinet. Along with the elephant bell.

I found the arrowhead in a riverbed in rural Missouri when I was, maybe, seven or eight years old.

The black squares with raised green letters on them were tiles used in the game Anagrams which preceded Scrabble and which we used to play as a family. I doubt that very many people play Anagrams anymore. Not enough patience.

At 7:00 is a watch chain that belonged to my great-grandfather Schuler. He allegedly received it from Anheuser-Busch in consideration of his being a major distributor for their beer. I don’t know whether that’s true or not—his receiving it, I mean—I believe that he was a major major distributor for Busch’s beer, not to mention being a political bigwig.

The tarnished thing is a bronze keepsake from the 1964 New York World’s Fair and I honestly don’t know how it came into our possession.

The locket standing with its hinge up at 10:00 contains two old photos, one of my maternal grandmother, dolled up for the stage and one of my mom as a little girl.

Finally, at 11:00 is one of my baby shoes.

That’s the lot. My dear wife put this display together. It’s humble but heartfelt. Sort of a time capsule of my family’s history over the last century. The display changes seasonally. At Christmas time my wife replaces what you see with old Christmas ornaments, Christmas cards from three quarters of a century ago (or more), and other things representative of the season.

1 comment… add one
  • Marguerite Link

    I stumbled upon your article when googling “curio cabinet.” Very nice thoughts, encouraging to run across a sentimental man, not enough of you around. Thanks for making me smile today.

Leave a Comment