| Civil War Trunk SOLD This is a very large banded trunk I believe made during the Civil War. We see this general style of trunk with the banding and brass buttons mostly before the war and some a bit after but do not always have reason to feel it was directly Civil War. With this one, there is a little more to point in that direction, although typically, none are dated. This trunk measures a larger size 36"L X 24"H X 20.5"W which is huge for this sort of trunk. It was originally covered on the top and front with leather and the remaining with a very early design of paper typically known as "western squares". Some of the western squares paper became quite ornate in later years, this basically just a square with a single "X" indicating the earliest sort. The use of this paper came about during the war as leather was in demand for the war effort for boots, saddles, holsters, and things of that nature. Unfortunately, both the leather and paper were in ruin with what leather remaining as brittle as glass. The banding and brass buttons are original other than a couple of the smaller sections of banding such as those which overlap the edges and perhaps 6 buttons but both old banding and original buttons were used as replacements. The buttons are actually nails through a round wooden head which is wrapped in brass. They have been cleaned up to show they are brass and are not painted. The handle holders are in a general style not too unusual to see other than these have been stamped with a federal eagle and shield which I had not seen before. New triple thick leather handles were applied. The original interior was mostly missing other than some traces of the original paper and a nice lithograph of a man and woman riding horses. Surrounding this litho was some pierced trim more typical to see in the 1850's and the litho's more common from the 1860's on so some elements of both which is consistent I think in the dating. The trim was in very poor condition, faded to white, and removed. A couple things on this trunk is that originally there would have been short leather straps where typically latches would be on later trunks. At the time this was made, latches were not in existence. Some like the straps and buckles while others prefer not to deal with them. I will install them at no charge at buyers request. Also, the interior is currently all wood other than the litho in the lid and I have made a replacement tray. At the buyers request, I can line the inside bottom half of the trunk and generally fancy it up a bit at no additional cost. You would have the wood showing on the upper half, and then when you removed the tray, the main storage area would be lined. Should not hold things up and it would just be my intent for the trunk to be comfortable to you. The photo's were taken in very bright direct sunlight. It settles down and tones pretty nicely inside the home. |
