Treasures (plus a mystery I could use some help with)
Published On: March 22, 2016

Earlier this week, I found myself typing ‘card catalog’ into my local craigslist page.  This is a thing that happens rather more often than you might expect (along with ‘barrister bookcase,’ ‘dress form,’ and ‘library,’ so now you know all my secrets).  Now usually this returns either nothing (most of the time) or some Staggeringly Expensive Bit of Epic Grandiosity (less often, but when it does it’s notable).  But this time…this time it did something else.  This time it showed me a listing for a reasonably-sized, reasonably-priced treasure somewhere not too far away.

So I sent a few emails, made a few calls, and set off on a little drive.  And now?  Now this is hanging out in my garage.  And it comes with its very own mystery, which I’m dearly hoping you can help me solve!

DSC_5437It is a bit banged up, and more than a bit filthy.  But dust comes off, and I’ll declare that the scratches lend it character.  But I noticed something as I was cleaning it off.  I started to suspect it wasn’t actually a card catalog.  Check out the edges of the drawers.  There are little numbered slots.  Card catalogs don’t generally have those.

DSC_5449You know what else there is?  A base cabinet.  A base cabinet with a label (and a locked door, but we’re coming to that).

DSC_5443A bit of googling, and it seems it’s really not a card catalog!  It’s the cabinet for a stereo view set (those nifty slides you’d put in a holder and view them and they’d look all nifty and 3D).  There are some pictures of someone else’s over here, if you want to see what I mean.

DSC_5445But the really interesting part is that locked cabinet on the bottom.  If I tilt it back and forth I can hear something shifting around in there.  But the cabinet is locked and didn’t come with the key.  A bit more googling seems to suggest it might be More Drawers (which would be nifty as can be).  I really must know, so something must be done.

So, options.  I can try to take the door off (the top one is missing, so might as well).  Or I can try and persuade the lock (surely I know someone with this skill set).  But before I start doing that, I could try the easiest thing.  I could ask you guys.

Is there any chance that any of you out there have a key for this?  I mean there were thousands (and the lock looks very simple, so I doubt it was different from cabinet to cabinet).  There’s every chance one of you has one (or knows someone who does) and might be willing to lend it to me for a day or two.  So let’s see just how nifty the internet is…can we get into this?

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