Book ends

Claim 1

A book end formed integrally from one piece of sheet material and comprising a horizontal base having front and rear edges and a pair of side edges, a vertical panel extending upwardly from the front edge of said base for supporting a book in a standing position, an inclined ledge provided at the upper edge of said panel and slanting upwardly and rearwardly above the front edge portion of said base for supporting a book in a slanting position, a pair of vertical side flanges provided at the respective side edges of said panel and extending rearwardly therefrom in substantial alignment with the side edges of the base, the upper ends of said side flanges being substantially coplanar with the upper edge of said panel and spaced away from said inclined ledge, a single vertical center flange struck out from the center portion of said panel and extending rearwardly therefrom midway between and parallel to said side flanges the lower end of said central flange being spaced upwardly from said base and its upper end being located below said upper edge of said panel, either of said side flanges coacting selectively with said central flange to provide a pair of transversely spaced finger pieces for handling the book end, the front edge portion of said base being flat but being stepped upwardly from the rear edge portion thereof to form a shallow downwardly and forwardly open seat, and a magnetic strip mounted in said seat, the thickness of said magnetic strip corresponding to the upward step between the front and rear edge portions of said base so that the magnetic strip complementally fills said seat and the underside of the strip is in continuous coplanar relation with the underside of said rear edge portion of the base.