Featured brass? revolving bookcase

this is my first attempt at picture posting.
I'd like any ideas or info on this desktop revolving bookcase
I took a few pictures on my way out this morning but I neglected to measure the thing.
it can't be more than a foot, tall or wide.
I'm thinking "European" and possibly 1920-1940ish
disregard the glass ball lamp finial, I put it on there a while ago for aesthetics.





thanks in advance

 

And you did well!
I'm sorry, I can't help with the bookcase.

 

Can only say that I have one with a floral design that I received from an adopted aunt.
She claimed her father made it from a kit.
Whether she was correct or not, I'm not sure, as by that time she had some dementia.
From what was her parent's and her age, I always guessed it to be from around WWI to 1920s.

Adding:
Yes, mine is brass as well.

 

It certainly looks like a book rack. The kit origin seems easily possible; it may have come pre-embossed and someone put it together. It seems to be all nails and screws rather than soldering.

 

It's just the right size to hold CDs. At least mine is.

 

It has a certain desk-top, utilitarian look to me. The sort of thing used to hold rubber stamps, writing pads, bulldog clips etc, and possibly rotating to be shared between a few workers (bank?). I searched for the coat-of-arms without success, but it looked Prussian (Europen) to me.

 

Thanks all!
The kit idea is unique.
I searched Eagle, Falcon, bird with shield, and variations, but came up empty.
At least I was guessing age reasonably =D

 

Well, I’m no expert but I am Polish and to me that looks like a German eagle during the Nazi regime, and the top view of that piece looks exactly like a swastika. That’s the first thing I thought upon seeing it. Might be worth looking into that avenue. Couldn’t make out the coat of arms, however.

 

Now that’s really clever. Well observed.

 

Welcome to Antiquers Alexia.
I had the Swastika feeling as well, but being Dutch I am overly sensitive to that, as no doubt the Polish are as well.
But it is the general shape of revolving bookcases.
The eagle does not look like the Nazi eagle, though. I won't show that eagle because of the same sensitivity, but I can assure you it has a very different shape, with sideways outstretched wings in a stylized 1930s design.
The crest has nothing to do with the Nazis either, so a big sigh of relief.

I think it is just a nice heraldry inspired design, not necessarily connected to a specific family, town, country, or regime.

 

The eagle was stumping me too because it wasn’t a perfect match. I did look up different ones, trying to solve the mystery but no luck. It does look very familiar to me and I know I’ve seen that style eagle in passing somewhere. I have asked many European friends about the pictures and they thought what I did immediately. My gut feeling is that the swastika shape is intended. It just seems to me too coincidental for the time period of the piece not to be (which to me looks like a wartime piece) Anyhow, just a friendly opinion. Regardless, I would love to know the answer to the puzzle!

 

smcrae is in Canada, and cluttered is in the US. So both brass bookcases are in North America, and were probably made there. I have certainly never seen any here, or in any of the other European countries I know. But they know them in North America.

This is a typical international forum thing, we Europeans looking at a North American item with our European set of references, just like North Americans look at European items with their set of references.
Being on the forum can correct our insular viewpoints, on both sides of the pond. And beyond, of course.

Just one note on the swastika, aside from it being an obvious shape for revolving bookcases.
Up until the hijack of the symbol by the Austrian madman and his party ideologist, the swastika was a perfectly acceptable and even revered design all over the world. An ancient symbol of the sun, the cycle of life, and eternity. It still is to most people in this world.

 

Yes, I do know that the swastika existed well before Nazi Germany and was a positive symbol. I just thought for a more modern day piece (that doesn’t depict Asian influence ie; the swastika of old) it was an odd choice for a symbol (in my view) as it could be easily misconstrued. And that pairing with a very European style eagle, had me wondering. Very interesting piece, nonetheless.

 

Not just Asia, also Europe, Africa, Native American cultures.

Lullingstone mosaic, England:


Plaošnik, Macedonia:


Native American, a Navajo bracelet:


Lalibella, Ethiopia:

 

Nice. Thanks for the information.

 

There was quite an influx of immigration here after WW2 of folks that I’m sure brought many of their belongings with them.
Possibly randomn, possibly not.

 

I would suspect a decorative device. The eagle displayed is a fairly generic heraldic design and the shield appears to be nothing more than sketched in with geometric shapes.

Debora

 

Yeah, that's the first thing that came to me as well, Germany, with that eagle.
Sorry, i know nothing about this bookcase

 

I'd call the design "fake heraldic" and not worry about it. It wasn't meant to be anyone's coat of arms or a particular heraldic eagle. Those motifs were used for decorative items in the states, and post-WWII on jewelry, just "for pretty". Napoleonic eagles were a more likely design reference in this case than any National Socialist influence.

The swastika shape is the way revolving book cases were made in Victorian times and still are. It's just that they have lids on. The shape is there, just not obvious. It's still there to this day in revolving book racks. You don't see it because it's only visible from the top down and the books tend to go up to eye level.

 

That was my first thought as well but I’m also not an expert. Interesting idea to look into more.