Posted 12 years ago
antiquesar…
(136 items)
These are just more photos regarding the box that's been in my family for (at least) 132 years.
Go to the following link for the first half of this post:
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/56822-family-trunk?in=user
These are 3 more photos.
Left: the left end
Center: back/end
Right: back
Wow -- at first I did not realize it was round. I am now a little out of my knowledge element. If it is earlier than the 1800's you would notice on the lock plate that the nails are hand forged, called rose-head, due to their irregular shape. Perhaps you will see some larger nails on the bottom that could give you more insight. Look up rose-head nails and then see how yours compare. Lovely early American document box in any event. Certainly as old as 1820's or 30's, and if it has hand forged nails it may even be late 1700's -- but please note I am not an expert, just a hobbyist. There are examples out there to find to compare so good luck with your research. Perhaps others in this forum could help as well... Thanks for the post!
Wow! This is fantastic information. I understand that you're not an expert, just a hobbyist but you're the first person I've run across who knows anything about trunks/boxes.
Are the nails on the lockplate the ones in the corners (see the fourth photo above). If so they look handforged to me. They're unlike any other nail on the box.
Yes that is the nail I mean -- hard to say on that one -- look at my site for a black brass tack box and look at the fourth picture -- there is a rose head nail there, they have unique indentations on the sides -- kind of a smudge look on the head on two sides -- which this one does not appear to have. However those front nails may have been smoothed over with age -- a better example would be on the bottom underneath of your trunk. (great close up shot by the way) The rest of your box is covered with brass tacks -- the proof of age would be the nails used to construct the box itself.
The nails on the bottom are too deep into the wood to tell. But the heads are too small to be rose-head nails. There are bigger black tacks near the bottom, they're similar to the brass ones though. The feet (squared off tacks) of the box are very nice. I'm checking around online for more information on similar boxes also. After looking at all the nails they don't appear to be rose-head, however they're definately hand forged. Thanks again for all your help!