Featured Family Heirloom Cedar Chest

I need help identifying my families old cedar hope chest. It's not a lane I know that much.

It is made out of solid cedar. After talking with our family genealogist we think this chest was bought around 1908-1910. It has two large stationary wood handles that run from end to end width wise, they have broken off but we still have all the parts. I don't see any dove tail joints or anything visible like that. I will be posting pictures later this afternoon.

History to go with the chest.

Family is a matriarchy so any history from the chest and that time period will include very little about the men.

My relative from Ireland Mrs. Catherine O'Hagan had bought this hope chest for her daughter Mary O'Hagan born (1894). At that time it wasn't uncommon for women to get a hope chest by the time their 20. Catherine O'Hagan died when her daughter was 18. After her death we think Mary struggled for a while financially. On the assumption that she got her hope chest around 1908-1912 at the absolute latest.

 

I like your history of the hope chest and look forward to seeing the photos.

I still have and use the hope chest I got when I turned 19 (mine is a Lane hope chest/cedar chest.)

My chest started out as a "hope chest" . . . for many decades since it has been a storage chest.

 

Mine is still a hope chest.

I hope to unbury it and clean it out some time in the next few years.

 

Mine is a beyond hope chest.(LOL) It was my grandmothers, and was bought prior to 1930. Beyond that it's hard to be sure.

 

Taking pictures now. I actually am using as my hope chest funny enough. Moving out on my own and its used yet again for its intended purpose! Can't wait til i can one day pass it down to a future daughter!

 

full front view by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:48 PM

back view by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:48 PM

full top view by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:48 PM

open view pardon mess by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:48 PM

inner label by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:48 PM

Lock mechanism bottom by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:45 PM

Lock mechanism top on lid by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:45 PM

hinge (possible newer hardware?) by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:45 PM

possible past repair? by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:45 PM

the two handles broken by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:45 PM

Down the length including broken handle by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:45 PM

full side view with handle by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:45 PM

Top view with handle by Ariel O'Hagan posted Aug 24, 2016 at 3:45 PM

 

i've found a little more information. I want to know what year this actual model came out and if it would be worth it for me to restore.

July 4, the Acme Manufacturing Company (makers of the Acme Red Cedar Chest) plant, 320 Sycamore, was destroyed by fire, loss of $60,000.

$60,000 of 1916 dollars would be worth: $1,333,333.33 in 2015

 

It is different than most I see with those wood handles on top. There are a lot of these cedar chests out there by various makers. Consequently, they are not worth a whole lot and the maker doesn't matter much. Having it restored by a professional could well exceed value. Saving for posterity and nostalgia is the kind of thing you can't necessarily put a price on. You will have to answer whether or not it is worth it to you to do so.

 

Went looking for "images" of Acme Red Cedar Chests on Google, hoping to find another like yours or some period advertising. Closest I got was one from a different manufacturer with end pieces sticking up and with "hand holes" (making them operate as handles." That company called them "window seat" chests to be used as a bench when not open. Maybe yours was meant the same way?

Also found that the company was started around 1900, so with that and the fire in 1916, your assumption of 1908 to 1912 is quite reasonable.

Too bad about the handle damage.

 

I wasnt thinking of getting it professionally repaired. Maybe just get the handles them selves fixed (out of my skill level) now to fix the cosmetic i could definitely handle.

 

With the cosmetics fixed, it will be a lovely heirloom, Ariel.

One thing you might want to think about is removing the lock mechanism. I gather you don't have children now, but one day you might and the lock can become a danger to a child playing hide and seek, trapping the hiding child inside. The piece of metal that holds the top up was definitely someone's add-on, probably post-WWII. I remember Lane offering these in the 70's or so, to help owners of older chests (made without them) to avoid the "falling lid" problem.

 

re: The Acme fire

I'm really not trying to be picky here, but I think that somewhere along the way, someone posted a "bad date" on the net, & this misinformation has been picked up & repeated by lots of others.

I only mention this because so many entries I saw indicated that the Acme fire was in 1916. Actually, it apparently was in 1922.

The South Bend News-Times had a front page article the day after the fire, which you can read here:

South Bend News-Times, Volume 39, Number 186, South Bend, St. Joseph County, 5 July 1922
https://newspapers.library.in.gov/c...-1922--en-20-SBNT-1--txt-txIN-acme+fire------

The South Bend Fire Dept history site also showed the fire to be July 4, 1922:
http://historymuseumsb.org/south-bend-fire-departments-history/

The same South Bend paper has many, many mentions of Acme, including an article on July 8, 1921 stating that Acme “was organized eight years ago” (thus, c.1913) and due to rapid expansion and increased sales, “substantial additions” were being planned for the South Bend plant and the company’s other plant in Chattanooga, TN.

I bring up the dates here because they seem to alter the apparent age of Ariel's lovely chest just a bit. If what the South Bend newspaper says is true, the chest was most likely made between 1913 and 1922.

Yes, I know - picky, picky, picky. Sorry. -C -

 

I'm not sure how long they've been making aromatic red cedar boards like that, but I'm not comfy with the hardware being 1920......

Just sayin...

 

Oh, Komo - NOW who's being picky??? (just KIDDING!)

Honestly, I have no idea, but Ariel did say it might have "newer hardware" (or were you thinking older hardware?)

Sorry, old hardware is not my specialty - in fact, NEW hardware isn't so much, either... -C-

 

I'm not Picky SBSVC.....just scratching an itch !!

Yes...newer hardware was indeed mentioned...

 

I've always thought these solid red cedar chests predated WWI.

 

My mother had one she got when she was a teenager. She was born in 1922 so this would have been about 1938 or so.

 

Thank you for being 'picky' and including the article website. I bought an Acme cedar chest at antique store and was researching background. I knew fire date of 1916 was wrong because I had found an Acme ad in the South bend Times dated 1919.
Mystery solved thanks to your eye for detail.

 

I've seen cushions on chests with handles. The handles help keep the cushions in place.