Posted 8 years ago
B.Kay
(15 items)
I just picked this up in a little resale shop that normally I would have driven past taking a bypass. However I felt like driving through old tiny towns, and found this treasure. I thought oh my goodness what am I doing? But I love it, I like the crackled canvas covering most of all. I love that it was made here in Oregon as well. It's made with the 3 layered veneer fir. Although the lock is gone everything else is in tact, even the leather handles. The covering is canvas with, I presume a shellac that has crackled over time as there are some larger flat places in back. Or it was made to be that way. It's still very much intact. I won't be removing it as I really enjoy the look of it. The lid closes perfectly snug, and opens up to the secrets inside, where among newspaper clippings I found an old stamp from 1915. Double score since I collect stamps! So here are the measurements: 2ft. 8in. tall, 3ft. long, & 1ft. wide, made by Multnomah Baggage and Trunk Co. It makes a statement in the room. I love it, I hope you guys do too!
B. Kay,
That is very different for sure. Very cool find. I could be wrong, but that outer covering sure looks like patent leather to me. I have a couple of trunks covered in the same material and I was told on CW by a couple of experts that it's actually called patent leather. I'm curious as to what this one was originally used for. I've never seen one like it before. Nice find indeed!
Scott
Thank you jscott0363, I too am curious what it was used for. As for the covering, at first glance I thought it was leather. However there is a small tear in the back. And it's clearly very thick canvas, duck cloth. And then this coating of black shelac or varnish of some sort. It's original to it as you can see it goes under the metal work. It makes it feel like a very hard plastic, while still being flexible. The white covering on the lid when it's opened is the same thing but it is not crackled. It's canvas on the opposite side. I might remove that peice since it's hardly tacked on anymore.
It's for sure a curious piece! I'm going to research Portland in the industrial Era at the start of World War 1. Maybe then I might have an idea of what it may have been used for.
B.Kay,
I'm looking forward to what you're able to find out about this one. Here is one of my trunks that's covered in patent leather (the same as yours is covered in). There was a particular recipe that they used to create this unique covering. It starts out with canvas and then the coating goes over that. Check this one out and you'll see what I'm talking about. You'll want to ready what hmsantiquetrunks.com has to say about the covering. It's very interesting and educational to the trunk world.
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/141042-unusal-trunk-with-canvas-cover
Scott
Oilcloth(see Wikapedia for the many applications) could be a possibility, 3ft. x 2ft 8 inch pieces of leather were hard and expensive to come by when this was produced. The patent leather process was just one of many things that were applied and tried
at the time.
Much luck
Thank you Drill, I will look into that. Jscott0363 I did read Jim ' s post. I'm really not sure what it is. More research is needed I think.
I would say no on the patent leather. Based on the age ( I would say around 1910-1930) it is painted canvas, or fiber. I would also guess that it is a field desk trunk. I have not seen this exact setup, but some others that are very similar. These were used in the field by military personal, offers, medics, postal, etc.
Jim
hmsantiquetrunks.com
Thank you hmsantiquetrunks!
That trunk does have an interesting and great looking inside. And another I do not recall seeing before.
Thank you, but this isn't the one I meant, you will have to look at all my posts I only have 14. The first 2 are a Henry Likly dresser trunk. It's super cool and I still have not finished this trunk. I think I may hop to it soon.