Posted 10 years ago
Kydur
(103 items)
This trunk is only 23" wide rather than the standard 36" of a regular travel trunk.
It looks to be manufactured in Montreal, Canada, as per the label inside the lid (photo #3), and the original tray is intact. As with most of the trunks I have it smells real funky inside! I've been trying various methods to reduce/eliminate the smell including cedar chips, coffee beans, and leaving them in the sun to air out. Nothing is helping all that much. Anybody have a fool-proof technique?
As a fellow by the name of Scott stated in the comments to one of my other postings, "buy the antique and not the story", but for the $35 I paid for this one I figured the great story that came with is just a bonus:
The previous owner was invited about 20 years ago to visit her friend in New York. Her friend was a props manager for a company that supplied such things to movie studios; so the seller and her friend spent the day hanging out in the back lots and on the sets of a movie that was being filmed at the time.
Several months later after the shooting for the movie had finished the seller was contacted by her friend to say that many of the props were being liquidated and so that's how this trunk came into her possession.
The name of that movie was "Little Women", the 1994 version with Susan Sarandon and Winona Rider. I have yet to watch the movie and pause frame-by-frame through the scenes that might contain the trunk to confirm that it's the same one. This trunk has had little pivot wheels mounted on the base that seem to suggest some validity to the story since it would sure make moving it around on a set a lot easier.
Arm & Hammer Baking Soda - just like you put in a refrigerator - don't just dump it in, just tear off the box lid, better yet, they make boxes called "Fridge-n-Freezer" Spill=Proof package that has a perforated removable panel.
Nice trunk and great size too -- since I live in Montreal I recognize the name Henry Morgan and Company, which was a large department store in downtown Montreal that no longer exists. I have on my site a golf club bearing the same name. Nice funky trunk....
Kydur, your trunk was sold as a Hat Trunk. Probably early 1900's. While many people use the name Steamer Trunk to describe all traveling trunks, a Steamer or Cabin trunk, were trunks that were no taller than 14" as per ocean vessel regulations on baggage allowed in cabins.
Jim
hmsantiquetrunks.com
Thanks for the education! Yup, guilty as charged on calling every really large trunk a "steamer trunk". So am I to infer from your comment that all the real large trunks (24"d x 36"w x 24"h) are properly called "travel trunks"...?
I've changed the title of this post to reflect my new found knowledge.
As to the smelly trunks,fabric dryer sheets make 'em smell pretty nice. So does leaving a bar of Dove soap in them. Try it! Nice Cunard sticker, I did some searching for the ship, and rail road, hard to read the exact name though,as well as the person. You may want to try as The Cunard line has a pretty extensive database.You may have better luck with it.Nice to know dates and places it traveled ,and what ships etc.
Thanks for all the tips on making the trunks smell fresher, I'm going to try them all!
The trunk is covered in stickers and I never thought to try researching them as well. Good idea!
Kydur, I'm gonna have to come follow you and Trunkman around and see where you guys are finding these great trunks!!! I love this one!!
Ha! Scott, that's the same way I feel about all the hat boxes and silk top hats you seem to conjure up with ease out of thin air!
Most of my trunks (and suitcases) were acquired shortly after I posted a want ad on our local Buy & Sell. I was amazed how many people had them (in a local population of 4,500) and were eager to get rid of them for next to nothing!
Very nice original early 1900's hat trunk. It is very possible that the trunk could have been made in the U.S. or in Canada and the label is very likely the label of the retail store that sold trunks, bags, and luggage. I think that because it doesn't say manufacturer as most trunk maker labels had, and it has "trunk department" as many large retail stores had at that time. There were quite a few trunk companies making this type hat trunk and many of them didn't put their own label in them, but sold them wholesale to the retail stores. Either way, it's nice that it has the label and is in very nice condition.