Posted 14 years ago
TrunkerMar…
(32 items)
This small trunk from my collection is a leather covered trunk from the Civil War period, 1860's or possibly a little earlier. It has a handmade iron and brass lock with an eagle design on it, iron banding with solid cast brass studs on all sides, the original top handle and inner tray and lid compartment. The colorful picture inside is also original and shows a jungle scene with palm trees and a tiger. This measures 19" tall by 17" by 17", an unusual size. Some people call these half trunks or hand trunks. Some of the later trunks this size from about 1880 to 1920's were called Hat boxes or Hat Trunks in catalogs of the time. I don't know if this was for hats, but it was obviously for small items and is well made. I don't know who made it but I believe it is American made. The leather has tooled designs and I treated it with leather preservative polish. I cleaned the old torn and dirty fabric out of the interior and refinished the wood, keeping the picture in original condition. I love the look of the old original trunks. I don't have the key but hope to find one that fits some day.
Beautiful!
that brings up a good question, where and how is the best way to find keys for these trunks. i have several trunks without keys and only two with. I would love to get a key for the Goyard I own.
Most early American made trunk locks use what is called a barrel key, which has a hole in the center. Some very early trunk locks of the early 1800's to 1860's were hand made and it is rather difficult to find keys for those. But then sometime in the late 1870s to 1880's they started putting key codes on many of the locks and keys. Then some trunk locks were being made with flat type keys also. So what you need to do first is see if you need a barrel key or flat key, then check the lock very closely for a name and key code which can be used to find the key. Some keys are fairly easy to find now, but some are very hard to find. If you find the key code and lock company name that helps a lot. For example if you need a Corbin ST2, or Eagle B122 (there were many different codes) you can use that information to check with me and I can help you find a key hopefully. I have a fairly large collection now, but also know others who do. Sometimes you may need to find a good old fashioned locksmith who can help make a key for you. Marvin@ThisOldTrunk.com
Also, I forgot to mention that it is generally much harder to find keys for the foreign made locks, but not impossible. Some of them have numbers on the locks which will match the key, but there aren't many of those keys available for sale.