Posted 8 years ago
jennieguiol7
(1 item)
This trunk has been in our family for generations. It is 29 1/2 inches long, 1 ft tall, 14 inches wide. It has always held family wills and documents dating back to the 1700's, as our family came to California on the Colonel Riveria expedition, and settled in Los Angeles. This was the second crossing to Los Angeles. The first came 6 mos earlier, however our Colonel was killed crossing into what is now Calif and it delayed the progress. I do not know if thats where it is from. This family member married a Frenchman and he was a founding member of the French Benevolent Society. Family names are Ruiz, Ibarra, Avila and Guiol.
This is a beautiful piece. The type of screws and nails used would help to date it a bit more specifically. Rare to see this type of trunk with such magnificent decoration.
I changed out two of the pics to show 1. corner bracket that had come off and stored in trunk. Shows very small nail holes. 2. bracket that at one time helped lock the trunk. If this helps on nail or hinge dating it. I do not know if any restoration was done prior to 50 plus years.
what a beauty!!! trunkman knows better, but my guess would be 1860s-70s.
I believe it is older than 1860's -- those look like hand made screws -- see how the groves on the top are off center and they are not uniform... I would place this in the mid to late 1700's. Taking out a screw and inspecting it -- comparing it to known older screws (pictured on various internet places) would help in knowing more. A close up of a nail head also helps -- thanks for the extra pics...
I removed two screws carefully. One was rusted, the other not. I took picture with nail in clamp so you could see it better instead of my big fingers, lol. Thank you for your comments.
Thanks for the new pics of the screws -- as you can see the slots are off centered and the head is misshapen -- along with the large deep groves on the body would give indication that they were hand made -- they also seem not to taper -- another indication of age. All signs of being hand made. This helps in dating from late 1700's to early 1800's.
A thank you to trunkman, he gave me a lot of great info! I love my trunk and it sits in my living room for my family to cherish.