Custom Cases for Hobbiest and Business
Custom cases can be built to accommodate just about any need to display items. There is often a need to protect precious valuables from dust, sunlight, moisture, and the fingerprints of curious onlookers who would like to handle what is inside the case.
In a home, a custom display case can hold collectibles, sports or music trophies, coins, quilts, artwork, dishes, and important papers. Businesses use display cases to hold jewelry, guns, purses, and foods like breads or any retail items that need to be locked up and personally shown to potential buyers.
Large custom cases or cabinets often look like large pieces of furniture. They come with glass or Plexiglas fronts and allow the owner to lock them. Hobby stores always sell large cabinets, since many of the things that customers can buy or make there could be collected. Large display cases are often the ideal solution for those with very large collections, too. They want a case that is gorgeous enough to be art itself as well as display art inside of it.
Shadow boxes are another popular custom case among collectors. A wooden square with a glass front, the shadow box has been used to highlight small valuables, store keepsakes and mementos, and create a collage of memorabilia. Military enlistees, especially naval enlistees, have historically used the shadow box to contain medals and other reminders of achievements and accomplishments throughout the career of a sailor.
Folklore suggests that the Navy originated the shadow box. It was once considered bad luck for the shadow of a sailor to reach the shore before the sailor did. Therefore, shipmates collected a record of achievements of a sailor inside a box, allowed the sailor to reach shore, and then gave him his shadow box (symbolic for the shadow of the sailor) in a ceremony later.
Many custom cases that are used as display cases have other features to help display the contents of the case. Some have special interior lighting, rotating platforms, mechanical curtains, and hideaway compartments to help bring a museum-like feel to the display. Fancier features are extremely valuable to collections that are valued at thousands of dollars or that contain irreplaceable items that are family heirlooms of hold historical value.
The key to have a custom case that works for both the collector and the spectator is to make sure that everyone who sees a collection can have a close look without touching anything beyond the glass.