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Bow Top Trunk- Early 1900's

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Trunks1120 of 2669French trunk 1880's19th Century Patent Leather Document Box/Hand Trunk
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    Posted 7 years ago

    AnnaB
    (85 items)

    Hi CW friends,

    It's been awhile since i visited here. Hope everyone is well!

    I found this trunk yesterday at an estate sale. It's not in a horrible shape, but certainly needs work.
    What's interesting about it is the stamps and labels on it. The red stamp on the bottom of it reads "[illegible?] Macys? Macy &? Co." with a star, and the stickers read Wells Fargo express etc. The painted writings on the trunk are E.L.S. and Newburgh NY. Is there any way to tell what the purpose of this trunk was, how old it is, or how special?

    Any insight would be very helpful. Thank you for stopping by!

    **Title Updated- Thank you Greendog, Scott and Trunkman!

    Mystery Solved
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    Comments

    1. greendog greendog, 7 years ago
      Hi AnnaB, I would say your trunk is from the early 1900's , 1900-1920. This is a bow top trunk most people refer to them as flat top but if you look at it, it has a slight arch or bow to it, a true flat top is just that, its flat no arch. As for the pink stamp mark, your guess is as good as mine, someone has put it on there recently, it shows no age to me, what it represent's ?. Wells Fargo & co. was a well used shipping co. they might still be around today, not sure. E.L.S obviously someones initials and Newburgh NY is where they lived, trunk was used for travel. Who knows maybe Macy's owned it at one time and used it as a display prop. Nice trunk I love it.
    2. jscott0363 jscott0363, 7 years ago
      Hi Anna!!
      Great to see you posting again. This could well be the Macy's we know today. They adopted the star log in the 1850's. And wells Fargo operated overland express freight services 1866 to about 1908. So, this trunk would have been from the later part of the 1800's.
      It's always amazing when you find one with the canvas covering and original leather handles still intact, unless of course the canvas is dry rotted and in need of removal. A great looking trunk and I love that solid brass lock. Very nice find!!!
      Scott
    3. jscott0363 jscott0363, 7 years ago
      greendog is probably closer on the date of this one, but no newer than 1920 for sure.
    4. greendog greendog, 7 years ago
      Hey Scotty, I believe Wells Fargo transportation and delivery were still in business through part of ww1 inf I'am not mistaken, I could be wrong but it seems like I just read that just not to long ago.
    5. greendog greendog, 7 years ago
      I mean it could be 1890-1910 give or take a little.
    6. greendog greendog, 7 years ago
      The only reason I say 1900 or after is that I don't see very much cast hardware. For me, the more cast hardware or all cast, the older the trunk, the less cast or none the newer the trunk, of course there's always exceptions to the rule.
    7. AnnaB AnnaB, 7 years ago
      Greendog and Scott, thank you so very much for sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience. I guess we'll never know for sure when Macys logo got there and why, but it least i now know what the rest of it means.
      Scott, one of the handles is still there but barely. The other one fell off during the sale. The canvas is surprisingly clean and almost all there. Thank you both again for the info and your loves!

      Bonnie, Mike, Officialfuel, Blunderbuss, Fortapache, Roy- thank you all for stopping by and your appreciation!
    8. trunkman trunkman, 7 years ago
      I would give this trunk a slightly earlier date say late 1890's -- the corner slat clamps are metal and not stamped tin and it looks like the latches are cast iron as well as the handle caps. Most probably Macey's sold these at one time.
    9. AnnaB AnnaB, 7 years ago
      Trunkman, thank you for your comment! I'll check all the parts you mentioned and post back. It's an interesting thought that Macy's probably sold them back then, that would sure explain the stamp.

      TassieDevil, Thomas, Sean, Rick- thank you for stopping by and your loves, much appreciated!
    10. greendog greendog, 7 years ago
      Sorry trunkman I have to disagree on the date of the trunk, look at the stamped tin handle covers, I don't think they started showing up until 1890's to 1900. The transition from cast to stamped parts didn't happen over night, if a company had cast parts in inventory they used them. and the Macy's stencil in florescent pink or orange clearly over rust is not from the late 1800's or even the early 1900's, I really believe this has been added within the last ten years or so for whatever reason.
    11. trunkman trunkman, 7 years ago
      Interesting.... thanks Greendog for the feedback -- those handle covers do not appear to be stamped tin but cast iron... I have had these similar at least and they were cast. Well that's the hard part about pictures -- hard to really know. The Macey's stamp... well not up to speed really on that but again a closer inspection of the piece on site would help. Well we are talking about a small transition period with possible crossovers... fun to take a good look to see.
    12. trunkman trunkman, 7 years ago
      Also this one has those neat two-tone latched you don't see very often -- nice touch.
    13. AnnaB AnnaB, 7 years ago
      Trunkman, greendog, thank you for your continuous feedback. I can take better pictures of the trunk or any specific parts if it would help...please let me know which? I also have yet to determine if the latches are cast iron which i haven't had a chance yet.

      Spirit, Racer, Nevada, Oroyorotisthatyourhorse- thanks so much for stopping by and your appreciation!

    14. Manikin Manikin, 7 years ago
      Very nice find AnnaB and I learned a lot on your post about dating trunks :-)
    15. Caperkid, 7 years ago
      Happy New Year Anna

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