Antique chest/trunk?

This has been in my family for at least 40 years. I find it interesting. Any feedback?

 

Likely, circa 1890 metal trunk with Japanning. Looks like you probably have the inserts but a complete set of pics would probably help.

 

Erwin Rommel's?

 

If you can prove it was Erwin Rommel's.....wow !
It was someone who had bucks....with that dome and hardware.
Can we see the whole thing....

 

Well, it does say E. Rommel.
But it looks a bit feminine, with all that decoupage, and he was only just born around the time this was made. His father was also an Erwin Rommel, but his mother's name was Helene, so no E.
There are other Rommels who are not directly related to this family.

Tried to find another 'E' in this particular Rommel family, and came across the interesting fact that Rommel's wife was Polish (and part Italian). Her uncle was murdered by the Nazis before Rommel could even try to intervene.
Rommel did not adhere to the Nazi ideology, but it is surprising that he could have had such a career, being married to a supposed lesser human being (my Dutch resistance roots refuse to let me type the German term). But he was very good at what he did, of course.

Just an aside, rommel is the Dutch word for garbage or junk.
My apologies to anyone named Rommel.

 

Maybe from Middle English originally? Middle English is more closely related to Dutch than present day English.
Dutch is the oldest Germanic language, it remained pretty close to archaic Germanic, the root of all Germanic languages, including English. We're just stick in the muds, I guess.

 

Been a while since I've seen a crystallized tin trunk, from what can be seen, yours looks to be in pretty good condition...

Brad's dating is probably about right, though it could be as early as the 1880s, or as late as a couple of decades into the 20th century. Rommel is not all that uncommon a name, went to school with one years ago, and the owner could have been either gender, the lithographs would have been applied by the manufacturer.

Here is a restored crystallized tin trunk: http://www.legacytrunks.com/Saratoga%20Cryatallized%20Tin%20103190/mainpage_103190.htm

And a clip from the 1898 Sears catalog:


~Cheryl

 

Always took that crystalized finish to be Japanning but maybe not a correct use of the term? Google says it may not be

 

Brad, I've always thought of 'Japanning' as black lacquer - the crystalline finish on old trunks and boxes was done with a chemical (darned if I know what), similar to galvanization, then coated with a colored transparent lacquer (amber for the most common gold tone in this case), it was done to the embossed metal coverings too, but is almost always worn off of them. Maybe since they were coated with a lacquer, might be considered 'Japanned' too...

~Cheryl

 

Here are some other pics...