Posted 8 years ago
gratefyl
(1 item)
Found this trunk today at a sale. It needs a good cleaning and perhaps the canvas or material will be removed to get to the wood...I'm not sure yet. I've taken the most relevant pics. The trunk measures 23 H x 24 W x 18.75 depth. Seems to have been modified inside to hold something but I have no idea what. I'm just starting to do some research and found this forum so I'm hoping someone might know something about it. Thanks!
I believe this is what was called a half trunk, possibly made for ladies hats. I think the interior is original, possibly made to hold more than one hat. Very ornate with some very neat hardware, never seen one like it, very cool trunk.
Thanks for the info!!! That's really interesting! I had thought of trying to get the fabric off and just conditioning the wood etc but I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet....seems like maybe it might have at one time been somewhere where it was hot because parts seem almost melted but it might just be dry rot. Any idea of age? I need to do some research on hardware. Thank you!
I would say 1880 to 1890 give or take, it's hard to be for sure, every thing I've read or heard says if you can narrow it down to within five or seven years your doing good. Hardware dates can help but hardware dated 1877 may have been used for twenty or thirty years or more, so for an exact date its a guess at best.
Thanks! That's great news! I was realized there was the remnant of some stenciling on the top of the trunk. Hard to read but I think the bottom line says "THEATRE". I will have to spend some time to see if I can unravel a mystery! :) I might swap out one of the pics so you all can see it.
Hey gratefyl, down loaded the picture on my computer and tried everything I could to enhance it, was still hard to make out, could have been theater, but your guess is as good as mine, Could have been a prop box of some kind for theater, who knows ?.
Great trunk! Nice size too... and yah this would be 'hat trunk' size but Taylor made trunks for specific purposes and items, as the label says, for professionals. So this trunk could very easily have been made for a specific item for a theatre group as the modifications on the interior would suggest. Whatever it held looks like it screwed in... curious...