Roundtop Trunk | ||
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Posted 7 years ago
Yankeeintx
(1 item)
We just purchased this trunk at an antique store. No information was available on it. Handles are missing, tin (zinc?) is a blackberry design, rollers on bottom, inside in poor shape. But it has character and we love it! Any info and cleaning advice would be appreciated.
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Beautiful find! This trunk has all the hallmarks of a quality piece. Looks like those back hinges may be from Martin Maier -- a high quality trunk maker and if so then he may have made this trunk. The hardware on it was made by M.M Secor I believe -- very nice cast iron. Others will verify (or correct) this info soon I would hope. Beautiful "East Lake" design lock. How far do you want to go with restoration? I know what I would do but refinishing is a matter of taste -- take a look at some examples of refinished trunks on my site and others to get a look at before and after. This will really "pop" if you choose to refinish.
Thank you so much for the information trunkman! The work you have done on yours is outstanding. At this time we would just like to clean it up. We want to make sure not to do any damage, so what would you recommend to clean the tin? I read that Murphey's soap or tongue oil may be used on trunks.
You are welcome! If you want to keep it as is but cleaned up you can use wood soap on the wood slats and then tung oil them. The outside black trim can be shined up a bit with gun oil. You can use fine steel wool to clean up the small brass rivets. The tin... hmmm.. looks a bit rusty... I might just gun oil it all but it will darken somewhat... maybe another contributer has a better idea for the tin.
Looks like we have a project ahead of us! Thanks again - much appreciated!
Hey Yankeeintx, if you want to just clean your trunk,use Murphy's oil soap mixed with water on every thing, wood and metal, use a soft to med bristle brush, wipe it dry, if you like the way it looks put some tung oil on the wood after it drys good. You can clean up your hardware with steel wool, again if you like how it looks put a satin clear coat on it or take a rag and good old Johnson's paste wax to the entire trunk.
The trunk was made by Martin Maier, as per the patent Maier hinges and the patent Maier slat clamp on the end, center, bottom. That hardware was patented in 1884. MM Secor, nor any other maker forged their own parts, they had a forge do it for them.
hmsantiquetrunks.com
Wow - thanks so much greendog! We'll be getting busy on it and maybe get it restored in the future.
So grateful for this information hms. We had no knowledge (obviously!) and it's so nice to have some history on our new acquisition.
http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/US214932-0.png
Here is an image of the hinge patent.
http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/USD15770-1.png
Corner iron patent.
Cool! Thanks Drill.
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/find-a-grave-prod/photos250/photos/2010/226/57091536_128192645861.jpg
Your welcome!
By the way I love the lock on this trunk,you don't see it very often.
https://books.google.com/books?id=CL_hAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA196&lpg=PA196&dq=Martin+Maier+Trunk+building&source=bl&ots=8SQTI3nzp5&sig=DseP_pBgH1YZli0oNodkYFzq0Xs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vDsoVZC-FdSmyASkjYC4CA&ved=0CFsQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&q=Martin%20Maier%20Trunk%20building&f=false
Thanks! So interesting!
https://books.google.com/books?id=Fkh5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=Martin+Maier+Trunk+building&source=bl&ots=BuwKF1ZtNE&sig=w7AdXL1Ium-lqovQtRoD71-oFdc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tz4oVb3hNMGlyATnwoDQDg&ved=0CCAQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=Martin%20Maier%20Trunk%20building&f=false
A little more info.