Doe and Hope

Description

The weighty stained whitewood cabinet with the J&P Coats logo ‘J&P Cottons are The Best’ within a roundel to the flanks and reverse, the worn hand painted top panel reading ‘Embroidery Cottons.. J&P Coats.. Fast Colors’, having four deep internally partitioned drawers, three being glass fronted.

The condition of the cabinet is fair to good with two of the drawer handles being later replacements, the glass is all in tact aside from the lower drawer which has been replaced with pine and the cabinet itself is structurally sound, the drawers sliding easily. There is wear, consummate with age, to the advertising though pleasing in a decorative sense. The cabinet shows well from all sides, important as it would have sat on a counter and thus could have been viewed from any angle.

Originating in Paisley, Scotland in 1755, James and Patrick Clark began a loom equipment and silk thread business and in 1802 James Coats set up a weaving business, also in Paisley. In 1826 he opened a cotton mill at Ferguslie to produce his own thread and, when he retired in 1830, his sons, James & Peter, took up the business under the name of J. & P. Coats. The firm expanded internationally, particularly to the USA. In 1890 Coats listed on the London Stock Exchange, with a capital base of £5.7M. In 1952 J. & P. Coats and the Clark Thread Co. merged.

In summary, a fine example of vintage shop display, decorative tabletop furniture and by-gone haberdashery all sewn into one.