The Trunk Ain't Junk

The photo on the left is what my neighbor brought over to my house, in tears, after a robber had broken into their house. The trunk, I'm guessing, is from about the 1860's and had been in the family forever. The unsub had ransacked the house and then, when not able to open the trunk, decided to put his FOOT through the lid! His foot drilled down through the leather top, into and through the lid compartment and then down into the bottom tray, smashing it all on the way. So now what? I let the trunk sit in my shop for a couple of months before being brave enough to tackle the job of trying to put Humpty the Bashed Trunk back together. What was left of the lid was not worth saving so I started from scratch. Found the right piece of leather, built a banded metal structure to support it, used what old planed wood I could find to rebuild the tray and interior lid compartment, added a new pair of belts and then handed it off to my good neighbor, who then cried again.