Posted 7 years ago
tstewart
(1 item)
I have looked at all the lovely trunks posted trying to find a match. This was a truck that was my Mother-In Laws, she loved it and no one else wanted it. It was her Father's, it has been painted and is metal and wood, there is a 20 and 30 stamped on the bottom. The only other marking is the straps that say RB Grover and Company Shoes, The Emerson. I googled the heck out of RB Grover and found nothing of trunks only of shoes, the Emerson was a shoe advertised between 1907-1912. I don't know if the straps were replaced. I would like to know some history of the manufacturer and if there is any hope for this trunk. I don't know where to begin and on restoring it myself and would like to make it something lovely. Thank you for your help
Hey tstewart, you have a round or dome top trunk from around 1890 to 1910, I know that's a wide margin but they made this style of trunk from 1880 to around 1915 so its hard to narrow it down. without a label, again its hard to say who was the maker of the trunk, this style was very common and there were hundred's of trunk makers making the same style. There's always hope for a trunk, I have taken trunks in much worse condition and had them come out looking beautiful. If you want to refinish your trunk and I say refinish because most people confuse restoring and refinishing, restoring means to put something back as close to original condition as possible, to many people call a refinished trunk restored and its really not. Anyway your trunk looks solid, so lets get rid of that brown paint. I use a citrus based stripper just because its better on you not as harsh as other strippers. It should come off the tin areas pretty easy you may have to scrub the wood slats with a soft brass brush or stiff nylon brush it may take a couple applications of stripper to get it clean, once you have the paint off to your satisfaction let it dry off a while, clean the wood with Murphy's oil soap with a stiff brush. Let the wood dry. after its dry you may have to sand the wood with a fine to medium sand paper and steel wool all the the metal areas to your liking. Now the choice is yours to leave natural or repaint you will probably have to stain your slats a dark color because of the paint, unless they come very clean. What ever you decide to do put a brush on clear coat two or three coats and enjoy! hope this helps if you have any questions please ask.
Also wanted to tell you that because your tin between the wood slats was smooth and not embossed with a pattern, it was most likely what they called a crystallized tin which came in many colors but gold was the most common you might find some of it under the brown paint but maybe not as it didn't hold up very well over the years. Also I think your tray straps were replaced at some point. good luck.