Posted 10 years ago
jscott0363
(903 items)
I just finished this lovely lady's French hat trunk. It's canvas covered and still has all of it's leather trim as well as it's original leather carry handle.
Lots of nice brass hardware. I also really like the blue and white stripes. It's designed to carry lady's hats, but I'm sure it could have also been used to carry men's hats as well. This one was a bit of a challenge as it was very dirty and heavily stained from being exposed to the elements. Still, I thought it turned out nicely.
It had a White Star Line decal that was too deteriorated to salvage. It still has the Hotel Russell London and a Hotel Zurich of Zurich decal still intact. There is another hotel decal that I am unable to make out. It also has a "Wanted" decal on the front. This would more than likely have been from the White Star Line steam ship.
I do not know the manufacturer or it's age. But, the hat pin cushion (hat holder) inside the lid has a patent date of Sept. 1897. It also has a leather label on the front that reads "Boite A Chapeaux Systeme Brevette S.G.D.G." which I believe means "Box For Hat" and "Patent Not Guaranteed by Government". I don't speak French, so I could very well be wrong about that.
If anyone out there has any information on the manufacturer of this hat trunk or how old this would be, I welcome your input.
Thanks for looking!!
Scott
Very lovely indeed! Funny those coloured stripes on some trunks -- adds a bit of flair to the piece I must say. Nice job on the restoration scott...
Thank you Cindy!!
Thank you T-man!! I do appreciate the kind comment!
Thanks walksoftly for the love!!
I love it! I love the stripes detail!
Thank you Julie!! I especially like the stripes. Not sure why, but those stripe seem to be on a lot of European trunks.
I believe I have seen trunks (prolly not as attractive though) like this and didn't know what they were...thanks for sharing, good to learn...:)
Yeah Julie, I agree. Years ago I saw trunks like this and passed on them because I wasn't sure what they were used for. I now know. A rare thing is to find the hat pin cushion still with the trunk. Few survived as most, like this one, are filled with saw dust.
I don't believe I would have passed on this one because I would have been drawn to the stripes...even if I didn't know :) I believe I thought they held record albums...:)
I guess the hat pin cushion would be the dead giveaway on this one:)
True :)
Thanks aghcollect for the love!!
Thanks PatSea for the love!!
And maybe he'll bring you one. My son gave this to me for Christmas. But, I had to do the restoration on it. Which was the part I truly enjoyed.
Thanks vetraio50 for the love!
Nice find and restoration! You're right for the translation, SGDG is for "Sans Garantie Du Gouvernement"
As a hat pin collector, I would love to see the pin cushion :-)
Thanks kyratango for the nice comment and the love!!
stunning!!
Thank you Sean for the kind comment and the love!! I do appreciate it very much!
Thanks FatBoy64 for the love!
Thanks officialfuel for the love!!
Thank for the love eye4beauty!
Great work, Scott. It really looks wonderful!
Well, thank you myoldkyhome!! This one was definitely a challenge. As you know, the canvas covered ones can be a little tough when your trying to preserve the original canvas covering!
Ok Scott ,I had my suspicions, So when you goggle Boîte A Chapeaux Systeme a bunch of pictures of French hat boxes will come up.But if you keep scrolling you will come across An Advertising poster Of Au Bon March'e , If you read the poster it talks of their " System'e of selling everything at a minimum Profit and thouroughly reliable Quality is the ruling principle of Bon Marche' ". I believe that this was made for or sold There. Incidentally this is the building of the "Grand Maggasins "in Paris.
Hope this helps. I will try again to cut and paste the link of the photo, if my computer will let me. Lately it's a lemon not an apple.
Drill, is that the same link that you posted on T-man's site? It was a Grand department store in France as I recall. But, I don't remember which trunk you pasted the link to.
http://www.delcampe.net/page/list/cat,6303,var,-Chromos-Images-Old-Paper,language,E.html
Scott, hopefully here is the link to Au bon Marche
Sorry, Scott the link above is not it. T-mans french trunk but the link is different that I have found. Just search and scroll. I'll try again.
Thanks Drill!! The link works just fine. I emailed Jean-Pierre Bal of Belmal.be to see if he had any information on this trunk. He said he's on a short holiday, but will be in touch next week sometime.
It has a lot of the same feature of the crocodile hide French trunk I recently posted. I'm curious if they are the same manufacturer.
Yes !Many of the same features of construction and some hardware,I Have searched for the manufacturer "Bertrand" of the leather one and have come up empty. But maybe he has other insight or advertising.Good luck and nice trunk.(Yes the link works but I am finding different posters then the one I initially quoted you about the wording " System'e ".)
Thank Drill!! I knew if anyone could appreciate this one, it would be you. Especially since you have more knowledge and appreciation of the French trunks. I'm slowly getting hooked on these!!
Make sure You get to see the History of the Hotel Zurich,in Switzerland Baur au Lac
And realize it has been around since 1844 ,170+ years in the same family.A 5 star gem. As well as the Hotel Russel in London with its rich history. Just one Quirky
Tid Bit . There are many ---"Home to Lucky George a resident bronze dragon who sits atop the 2nd floor stairs. One of 2 bronze Dragons Fitzroy Doll( a renowned architect of his time) had molded . The other is located 2.5 miles beneath the Atlantic Ocean on RMS Titanic . Cheers!
Wow!! Drill, I found the Hotel Russell in London, but had no success on the Hotel Zurich until now. What an incredible hotel!! The person who owned this trunk originally, must have been quite the expensive traveler!! Thanks so much for all of your fantastic info. This is what I love about CW!!
Happy New Year my Friend!!!
Jenni
Drill
and
myoldkyhome
Thank you all very much for the loves, comments and for stopping in!!!
vcal
and
Jenni
Thank you both so very much for the loves and for stopping in!!