Posted 12 years ago
DirtyDan
(1 item)
Picked this up at a garage sale today for $40. The straps are still pretty good but the lock and hinges are pretty wrecked. I couldnt find a date anywhere on it. The tin is stamped to look like croc, snake or gator, pretty cool. No idea of its age. It has Vicking RegD on the bottom as you can see in the pic.
Nice dome top trunk circa lat 1870 early 1880. Love the croc pattern -- the one pattern I have yet to acquire! I am not familiar with the Viking brand name -- however there were a lot of trunk makers at the time. Thanks for the post.
Your trunk was made in Europe, not America. There are several tell tale traits. The metal corners inside meant to hold the tray. While these were sometimes used in American trunks, it is mostly a Euro thing. The boards on the bottom of the trunk run from front, to back. American trunks of this age run lengthwise. The exterior nails of Euro trunks have a distinctive head shape, and are usually further apart. Also they used a lot of large head nails on the slats and valance. The "Viking Registration" is also something that would not have been used on American trunks. American trunk parts makers did routinely export parts all over the world. After looking at thousands of trunks, a non American trunk "just looks wrong" It takes practice, but there is a distinct difference.
Jim
HMSantiquetrunks.com