Posted 8 years ago
carolineho…
(1 item)
I just bought this trunk at the Goodwill. I'm not sure how old it is. Does anyone have any idea? It has a bentwood bamboo banding around the trunk. The emblem is from Tietz, the German Dept. Store. The other words say Holzkoffer ("wood trunk") and Leicht und Dauerraft (something like light and durable) There is a shipping label for German American Lines and also one for Railway Express Agency. So, it looks like someone used this trunk to migrate to the U.S from Germany sometime after 1939 (REA formed after 1939) and they must have travelled on the German American Lines. I'm wondering how old the trunk is. I haven't been able to find anything online with this label. Thank you.
Your trunk is from around early 1900's. The wood strapping is most likely hickory or poplar -- maybe birch. (been out of the loop for awhile so I kinda forget which of the three) Great that you have a maker's label so you know who made it and where it came from. Many makers of this type of trunk were churning these out at the time only to go defunct once the market tanked on trunks. Not surprising you are having a hard time finding info on this one. Nice old bentwood trunk!