Posted 6 years ago
Carlie
(21 items)
This old trunk was found by my father-in-law many years ago. He was working in the country in Mississippi and came upon an old abandoned house. We have no idea when it was made or what it was used for. There's a piece of wood inside that has a slightly worn stamped circle with "...Hirschhorn & Co" with the number 100 in the center. There are no other markings, except on the lock, which is illegible.
If anyone has any information about this trunk, I'd love to know about it.
I've had a couple trunks much like this one, same round tin hardware, probably from late 1860's to early 1870's and I will bet it was a paper covered trunk, this is a small overnight or packing trunk, the ones I've had, had wood handles on them, hope this help's greendog.
Thanks, Greendog! The handles are made of leather and are in rough shape, but still on the ends. I appreciate the comment!!
This could be quite a bit older, but better and more photos are needed of the underside, the inside, closeups of the lock etc...
Agreed , better pictures would help .Having said that there is a Patent stamp on the latch that could be a better indicator. I am in agreement with Greendog as to the time period, (possibly a decade older but not much more )based on the hardware(buttons) and photo presented.The early American locks patents were predominantly made by only a few manufacturers at this time period.Earlier lock patents and production was predominantly in England. Here are a couple Examples that get us closer : Liebreich, Hillebrand ,Gaylord and a few others.
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/USRE4205-0.png
http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/US66483-0.png
Hope this helps.
Thanks so much!! I've taken many more pictures and a close-up of the lock. The patent on it, as much as I can tell, appears to be PAT - NOV with the number 3 and two other numbers on the other side of the nail. Not as legible. I'm adding more pictures of this trunk and another one that I have.
The patent date is Nov 30, 69, 1869 the trunk is no older than 1869, greendog.
Thanks, Greendog!!!