Posted 12 years ago
myoldkyhome
(22 items)
I bought this at an estate sale yesterday. I saw it and fell in love. It's very ornate on the outside. The tray is missing but it has two old lithographs in the lid as well as the top left side of the lid opens and has a compartment inside. The front center, back center and sides have embossed tin with a flower pattern. The embossed areas were green. It has some rust in various places including on the embossed areas. However, I still believe that it will be beautiful again when it's finished. It has a lock on the front that says Corbin Cabinets Lock Co., patented May 17, 87; June 28, 87 and Aug. 30, 87, New Britain, Conn. So, I'm assuming that it was possibly made in the late 1890s or 1900s? Don't know if anyone knows anything about this lock company? Also it has some remnants of leather attached to small nails on the front sides and back that appear to have been something that ran horizontally. It appears that it would not have been anything very large and did not run the full extent of either side - just partially. There is nothing left but tiny remnants. I'm not sure what this would have been exactly and don't know if anyone out there has any ideas? Would appreciate any input from anyone about this type of trunks. Thanks.
Fabulous dome top trunk or camel back as some would call it. Certainly 1880's to early 1890's. Nice cast iron fingering along the sides, which is an indication of a quality trunk. The Corbin Lock Company was a well know manufacturer of locks ranging in a variety of types and styles. I am not sure about the leather tacks on it -- usually this trunk did not have leather straps around it, nor did they have a leather trim for dust protection as do much older trunks. Maybe a picture of the tacks and the remnant of leather would help us figure out what that was from. Nice trunk -- love it -- thanks for posting!
Thanks for the help again, trunkman. I will take a picture of the tacks tomorrow. The remnants were very small pieces of black leather just clinging to the inside edge of the tacks. There was nothing of significance left of these pieces. It was just the last clinging remnants. I think that I probably washed most of them off today when I was cleaning the outside of it. I did remove a couple of these and look at them close enough to know for sure that it was leather. The tacks seem like that they are in unusual places on the exterior. Hopefully, I can find a trunk out there somewhere that has something similar on it.
The tacks and leather could be nothing more than an idea a previous owner had that made sense to him or her. If you were wondering about the two brackets high on the back (inside) and the curious hook on the right side of the lid, their purpose was to allow the tray to swing up and stay in the lid or to be removed. The right side of the tray would fit into the recess of the lid and was for the lady's hat. Your trunk could possibly have had a second tray under the main tray. It would have been shallow with a webbed bottom called a dress tray. Many nice quality trunks such as yours had them.
Thanks catmandoo. I was wondering about those brackets and the hook. My husband and I were trying to figure those out yesterday. That makes sense. I wish this would have had the tray, but I'm glad that it does have the inside of the lid.
myoldkyhome: A great source on trunks is the 1902 and 1908 Sears Catalog-they have nice illustrations and description along with prices-It seem s to me that the 1922 Montgomery Ward catalog has a sections for trunks-in one of the catalogs they advertise replacement handles for 27 cents.
trunkman, I added the photo of the tacks and there were some small pieces of leather left. This is on the back near the bottom left corner. There are similar tacks on the front and the sides. Some of them appear to have been short pieces of leather with the tacks fairly close together. At least one looks like it might have run across the entire front bottom of the trunk. Thanks for the suggestion sayer34. I'll see if I can find those online.
Wonderful trunk!!
your leather piece was probably part of a label used by either the owner or the railroad to identify the owner -- or at least that is what we have seen on the trunks we have either restored or refurbished -- lovely trunk