Need Help with an oak file box on Pedestal

[hudsonhacker]

Hi All

Okay, I have exhausted my searches and cannot find another one like it to either date it or assess value. What it is....an oak file box. It opens from the top, but from the middle, so each half folds out. (Maybe not explaining this well, the pictures should help!) The box sits on an oak pedestal with metal castors. Maybe someone can help date it based on the castors in the picture.

The bottom of the box is marked:

Office Specialty
Tray No. 1109
Finish no 110

I cannot find another one like it anywhere! I would like to sell it, but I want to determine potential age and value before I go down that road , so if anyone has ever seen one of these, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in Advance
Hudsonhacker

[mart]

These were used in small offices in 40`s and 50`s or for personal files at home !!  Value about $50.-$75. depending on buyer !!  Probably sell better if you retro fitted it for a bar !! Would make nice little portable for a gentlemans office !!

[fancypants]

If you felt like making it into a humidor , that would also be a 're-tasking' of such an item . Stogie smokers spend large bux for decent (cedar lined) humidors in the Pacific Northwest .

[mart]

A good idea Fancypants !! As a file cabinet it wouldn`t sell well with most using computers for that but,,,you never know !!

[hudsonhacker]

Strange that such cool file boxes aren't all over ebay. I would not have guessed it was that common an item after spending quite a bit of time trying to locate another one to compare it to.

Thanks for the help guys!

[mart]

If you are trying to find it by what is written on it,, that may be the problem !!  Try something like 50`s oak file cabinets or small oak file cabinets or small file cabinet on casters,, or whatever you can think of !! Many of these have long since been revamped into something else !!

[KC]

Have to agree that these were a "run of the mill" office item and used by many offices!  Because of the quantity and it being an everyday office fixture, it was not considered a "collectible" item. These have been modified and used for many other things over the years.  They are still really nice items to have for homes.

I do believe that your item was made by the Office Specialty Co or Office Specialty Manufacturing Company.  Based in Rochester NY (Office Specialty Mfg. Co., Rochester, NY) and extended in Canada (The Office Specialty Mfg. Co., Limited, 122 Bay Street, Toronto, Canada) had manufacturing facilites and stores over the US and Canada.   Now to establish if this is from the late 1800'a versus the early to mid 1900's can make a monetary difference...but still not a whole lot...unless the style is unique. I do believe yours is from the early 1900's. 
See history of the company http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:H_61pjqSTyQJ:familytreemaker.gen ealogy.com/users/y/a/w/Gary-A-Yawman/FILE/0001page.html+Office+Specialty+Company+Rochester+NY&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

and a more up to date history
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9RN0ypbsVlcJ:www.inscapesolution s.com/aboutus/history.cfm+Office+Specialty+Company+Mfg+Co+history&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

The hard thing to "take" is that there are a whole of really fine items that people bring here to the forum to find out about and we are unable to help due to lake of identifying marks/information.  In addition, there are many (with and without identifiable markings) that aren't worth a lot of $$$$.  Granted many should be worth more.  But it is a matter of buyer demand.  

This is where Fancy's suggestion of you transforming it into a higher valued item is really unique...there aren't many items out there that can be transitioned that way.