Old Chest/Trunk Info

I was wondering if anyone knew any info on this old trunk....maybe the era its from, makers, models, anything at all.

I am planning to clean it up, and just curious about its making/origins. It looks like a common trunk, but I cannot find anything online!

There is no stamps or info anywhere on it.

Thanks!

 

Hi there. Please go back and edit and check full images, so we can see this puppy properly.

 

I triee, but I cannot get it to fit the MB restriction...thats why I broke it up.

I will keep trying to get it to work though, thank you

 

You clicked full images, so we weren't looking at thumbnails - you did good. With respect to size, I going to assume these are on your phone, so take a complete picture; one on then inside; and labels and details you think will be helpful and email them to yourself in size medium. Hope this works.

 

Here is the front, working on back and insides

 

Great. Now someone who knows about trunks can see it and help you.

 

Suspect looking into vintage footlockers will help you. And welcome.

 

Thanks, very helpful.

They look really common during the 1940s, way too many people selling and not much background, but still helpful!

 

Lots of people had them when they went off to college.

 

60's , 70's. summer camp......maybe earlier....but not much..imo..

 

I don't understand; they don't sell antiques.

 

Did they use leather handles then?

I found a lot of pics of this very similar that had metal handles on the sides

 

I don't know the history of footlockers, but they were making them with leather handles in the 60s. No idea how long before or after.

 

Thanks for all the info!

Still a great trunk to have! Ill try to post some images after its redone

 

The identical hardware is still in use today, so these pressed metal parts are not likely to date too far back. Found this online today:

The interior 'wallpaper' seems older by the pattern, sorta paisley. And the interior of the trunk has rails for an insert that appears to be missing. So, I'm thinking 70s, but no earlier, probably later, and might even be intended to have a retro look.

Steamer trunks of the 50's were much flatter and wider, and often had reinforcing ribs of wood around the circumference so that they would support the weight of all the trunks stored in the ship. By the time the 60's rolled around, suitcases made trunks obsolete, because planes made ships obsolete. And, remember that older trunks were intended to be used - that's why they had all the travel labels plastered on them - mementos of travel, and in some cases, hotels where they might be shipped to/from. Thick leather handles were used in the 50s, but leather is comfortable for the hands so that's a staple of any period. most older trunks also had an 'alignment guide' - a tooth like protrusion above the inside edge of the front behind the lock -- so that the top would latch and stay latched. You don't want a trunk popping open when bashed by another trunk.

The trunk is by no means 'flimsy' but it would not have been suitable for travel, which by the 60s meant pretty much being relegated to 'decorative storage' for the trunk.

That's my take.

 

I took 2 to college, since I went to school too far away to go running back home to pick up more clothes. Mine were the shallower model; I could pick one up by myself. I would not have been able to handle this deeper model alone. Mine had leather handles, a very similar lining except blue & white, there was an upper tray, which I did not take. The rest of the hardware was virtually the same: the corner reinforcements; the latches; the keyhole. It was made in the late 60s.

You are correct that they could not withstand much knocking around in the long run. The are not metal. If wood, it is very thin. Feels more like a particle board, almost an extremely heavy cardboard. I still have them; one with blankets, etc., the other with Christmas ornaments.

 

And that's why humans went to the moon. Nothing like seeing it first hand.

I retract my statement "70s but no earlier" and defer. And that the moon is made of cheese.

 

You see my cosmology at the end of each of my posts.