Posted 8 years ago
TrunkerMar…
(32 items)
This small trunk is 18" wide, 17" tall and 14" deep. It has the original label inside from F. W. Gromm of Denver, Colorado. It has only been cleaned a little and kept as original as possible including the top handle. The carpet covering is still in very good condition and the trunk has latches patented in the mid 1880's. I found some history on the company that said they were in business since 1873, and a book on the City of Denver printed in 1890 said that Gromm was the leading trunk maker in Denver. An interesting note was that "their main factory occupies the whole of three basements under the Brunswick Hotel". It's one I've decided to keep in my collection now for a few years. I'd like to have a large full size carpet covered trunk too, but these sure take up a lot less room! Thanks for taking a look!
Wow Marvin! What a great looking trunk! I had never seen a carpet covered trunk until this year on CW. Never seen one in person. It's another one added to my bucket list of trunks. This one is in just incredible condition. I am going to assume that is all original.
Would this be considered a hat trunk? The reason I ask is that most all of my hat trunks are just that particular size.
Scott
Thanks Scott, yes, it's all original and in nice condition. I think this probably would have been considered a hat trunk based on the size and what I've seen in old trunk company catalogs. It took many years of trunk hunting before I saw my first carpet covered trunk. Now we can see things online that many of us probably would never see otherwise. Keeps the hunting more exciting!
Fabulous trunk Marvin! The carpet on this is in extremely good shape. Super find!
This is beautiful and a nice size that doesn't take up a lot of room. I hope to find one someday but know the odds of that happening aren't good.
Thanks trunkman, I appreciate it! Wouldn't it be interesting and fun if we could organize a real collectors "trunk show" sometime? Lots of other collector's clubs do something like that and share information, show items from their collection, have swap meets for items or parts, etc. That would be really fun if we could ever do something like that.
Thanks for all your "loves" everyone. KathyKay, I have run out of room, so the small ones are great, but I still can't pass up a great large one when I find it! Does anyone else have that problem??
Hi Marvin, Neat carpet and a great find ,love the latch bolts on this one.I think we all have that problem of space. It would be kinda cool to have a trunk show,although I just can't see us physically schlepping these heavy things around to some location. shipping charges would be a nightmare.We would need many "baggage smashers"from days of old, and from what I can tell we are all pretty scattered across North America. This type of forum or lets say: an association website may be the closest we ever get to getting together.
Beautiful Little carpet trunk Marvin. I purchased one of the larger carpet trunks from a couple in Venice Florida. I was going to put it on ebay but it is so cool I may hang onto it. My trunk will be left in it original condition as found. I found a leather shop in Daytona beach area that can not only match up the handle size and shape but also make it look 130 years old. I buy many of my leather and parts from Brettuns village and they are a great outfit but they just don't have the higher end quality leather pieces need for the nicer trunks. Wondering if anyone out there can make me up a card board template of a leather lift for my 1885 carpet trunk. The reproduced part I received is of a low quality and it is not the same size from the pieces of debris I found on the trunk left over from what was its original lift. I never new these trunks existed until I seen Jims fro HMS trunks.
Hi Drill, thanks for your comments! Yes, it would be pretty tough to load up the large trunks and travel around for a show, hardly feasible for most people. At least this is a pretty good forum as you said for showing trunks and some information. I did load up my SUV with trunks once for a presentation I gave on antique trunks, restoration, history, etc.. I managed to take one full size trunk, a hat trunk and around 35 of my toy/doll/mini trunks for a pretty nice display of nearly all the styles. It was fun and everyone really enjoyed it. I did belong to a collectors organization once (not for trunks of course) which had become an international group of many members and they have an annual convention with speakers, auction, show, etc. in difference cities each year, including a European branch and convention of their own. I managed to attend a few of them and they were loads of fun. Most members also had picture albums of their collections which amazed me. I was quite surprised at first at how many people were involved. Have a wonderful Holiday!
Thanks trunkjunky! I've been a fellow trunk junky for many years. Picked one up yesterday which I hope to photograph later today. Yeah, I also get some handles and leather from B Village, but they don't make handles or lifters for the larger high quality trunks. I have had some custom made also. That's great that you found a leather shop for some of the items you need! I've found that each trunk maker may have had their own style of lifters on the high end trunks. It's best if you have pieces of the original as a template, but if not one could still be made. I do know that Jim of HMS also has made some nice lifters, you might try him. I've done a little of that but not really on the scale that Jim has done. There may be some others who are also good with the leather items. If you do decide to let the carpet trunk go please keep me in mind. Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Thanks for taking a look and for the loves everyone!