Title
A. Frankel & Co. Safe
Year/Period
Circa 1920s
Region
England and Singapore
Object Type
Material
Technique
Dimension
Object size: Please refer to individual parts.
Accession No.
2025-01315
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift in memory of Mr Tan Swee Gim and Mdm Tay Swee Lan
This is a steel safe made in England for the A. Frankel & Co. furniture store based in Singapore. The store was opened in 1887 by Abraham Frankel, a Lithuanian migrant who moved to Singapore with his family. The store became one of the leading furniture stores in Singapore and Malaya, helping to provide fittings and furnishings for Malay Royals and colonial Governors. The Frankel family lived on 200-acre coconut plantation in Siglap. Frankel Avenue in Siglap was named after the family estate there. Abraham Frankel died in 1928. After his son Julian Frankel died in 1938, the Frankel family’s furniture business in Singapore came to an end.