Posted 11 years ago
jaheyrend
(1 item)
We found this old dome top trunk at a local shop in our town. The store owner knew nothing of it's history. The inside was lined with old sheet music and that was one of the reasons we fell in love with it. We know nothing of it's origin or when it was made. It is made of metal and wood. The dimensions inside are roughly 28.25"x 15.25"x 12.75." We did however find numbers and letters written on the lid holder: PAT 7D MAY. 70. It does have square nails in the construction and has metal wheels on the bottom that are quite small on each corner. We are fascinated by the trunk's old charm and would love to find out the history of it including where and when it was made. We are new to finding information on antiques and have been limited on our google search so if anyone has any input or information it would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Lovely trunk with an unusual lid design. Usually the dome comes down much further on the top front. Also that lid compartment is huge -- there must be almost as much space in the upper compartment as the lower, which then would make that lid a little unwieldy when opening it fully loaded. (a rare design feature -- probably due to it not being very practical) Beautiful top corner pieces on it with a design I have not seen before -- also the corner fingering and x's are fabulous. The handle holders also look to be cast iron. Out of curiosity see if a magnet sticks to the tin -- sometimes with a picture it is hard to tell if it is zinc or not. The slat clamps do not appear to be cast iron but they are a thicker grade of steel, not pressed tin as in later trunks. These features place this trunk around the 1890 time frame. All in all a well built quality trunk of its day -- no wonder you were drawn to it!! Thank you for showing it to us and welcome to CW!!
I have a steamer I posted on here with same pat and may 70 as well. I have posted pics..similar to yours with cross.