Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Wooden Westinghouse Bulb Cabinet With Motorcycle

Picked up this old wooden Westinghouse Mazda bulp counter display cabinet the other day. The inside looks like it it has been modified and the original shelves are missing. There are a few spilts in the wood where someone put in too big of screws and there are a few spots where there is a chunk of wood missing. Other then that i still think the cabinet is really unique with the motorcycle cop on the glass. There looks like there was a manufacturer tag above the door that is missing though so i dont know who made it. the drawer below the door slides all the way out and has holes where individual bulbs would have been. Any Idea of how old this cabinet is im thinking 1930's or 1940's? Also any idea of value value on this cabinet?





Thanks Aaron

Aaron, over the past few years, my research has been able to turn up some information that may be of use. I can tell you that GE first developed and patented the "Mazda" bulb in Dec. of 1909 which was a tungsten filament bulb. So we know it can't predate that. GE licensed the Mazda name and manufacturing specifications to other companies. Westinghouse was one of those companies and first used the Mazda name in 1912. My earliest patent date for a Mazda automobile bulb to date is from Dec of 1913 and April 1916. I believe from collecting tin kits that these were mostly in use from the 20's to the 50's and I'm certain of the Mazda name through WW2. From the look of the add and logo it does appear consistent with adds and logos I've dated to the '20s. I've personally never seen such a large display. Most are either wall mount or counter top units of metal. I feel that most likely this is from the 20's or 30's but to put a finer point on it is tough. Info. is tough to find and I'm still trying to piece it all together. It's very nice and all my tins would look awesome in there! Nice find and enjoy.

Thanks for the info. Anyone have an idea of what it might be worth?

Aaron,
The cabinet looks like a Battery cabinet I have, there a is a brass maker tag center of the top crown molding. Sorry I don't have a pic of it, broke my foot, hard to get around, If i can get to it soon I'll post you some pics.tt