A wonderful piece of early sewing/textile industry advertising: an antique country store display cabinet from The Boye Needle Co. Of Chicago, made to hold and dispense sewing machine needles and shuttles in their signature flanged tubes. The lid is a rotating dial chart – spin the pointer to match your sewing machine brand (dozens of period machine names are listed around the rim, including Singer, White, Wheeler & Wilson, Domestic, Eldredge, and many more) to find the correct needle number for that machine. Lift the reveal panel and the correct compartment lines up in the wheel below, where original needle tubes and wooden shuttle/thread spools are still housed. This type of counter-top display was used in general stores, dry goods stores, and sewing shops in the early 1900s to help clerks match customers with the right needles for their home sewing machines – a wonderful piece of functional advertising and mercantile history. Great for collectors of sewing memorabilia, country store advertising, tins, or Americana display pieces.
