Posted 8 years ago
Topjimmy
(1 item)
Hello all. I would be very grateful for any feedback on the era, make, description etc. of this trunk. It has been in our family since before I was born and has been in my possession since my father's passing many, many years ago.
Thank you very much.
Jim
Hi Jim,
Your trunk is a style which the makers generally called a cross slat round top trunk with embossed metal covering. With that type hardware and embossed metal, these trunks were made from the late 1880's to the early 1920's by many American trunk companies. The color lithographs used in them were printed in many versions by large printing companies. Many of these trunk are not marked by the makers and they often had several similar models in various sizes. There were over 30 different designs of the embossed metal by the early 1900's. I've collected a number of old trunk catalogs which show these trunks and have the details descriptions. The inner tray had the covered hat or bonnet compartment (the covering is missing), so your picture shows the tray in backwards because the compartment lid was connected in the rear with the tacks which are still present. The cross slat designed trunk was patented in March 1880 by Charles Taylor, but the embossed metal of that style came out in the late 1880's and these were made for over 20 years after that. I hope the information helps.
Marvin I have some more trunk history information at ThisOldTrunk.com