Old Family Trunk

[JoshandLila]

Hi folks! I inherited this old trunk the other day and was looking for a value and any preservation techniques you can reccomend. The lock says Eagle Lock Co and the last patent date is 1892. Its a cedar chest i believe and has a very fragile blue cloth covering it under the metal and oak runners. This trunk seems far better quality than others ive seen, heavy duty hardware and heavily riveted. The nails used have a rounded head, dont know if that means anything. I believe all the leather is origional. Legend has it this came over the ocean with one of our ancestors so intrested to see what you think. Any good ideas on preserving the cloth?Thanks for looking

[JoshandLila]

heres some more pics of the hardware and heavy riveting

[mart]

Sapphire was working on a similar canvas covered trunk a few pages back !! Do you want to redo it or just keep as is ??

[sapphire]

I wish I had bookmarked the page I was reading last week. (Maybe I already did and forgot?)  But it was talking about the canvas covered trunks and their typical colors.......and how the canvas was painted then baked.  That would likely explain why as I made my first attempt just with a soft brushing (dry) that I'm getting lots of 'plaster dust' type particles.

Very similar to mine with the exception of the semi rounded top and the leather straps.  Does yours have brass rollers on the bottom?

[mart]

Ooops !!  Hand held vaccum first !!

[sapphire]

Ooops !!  Hand held vaccum first !!

Shit!

Should I maybe put a piece of panti hose material over the nozzle as well?  I've used that for 'dusting' silk floral arrangements.

[sapphire]

I used a very soft bristle (hair) paint brush and only lightly........not a scrubbing type brush.

[JoshandLila]

it did have the rollers on the bottom, think theres only one left on it. My computer crashed and I was off for a week or so & must have missed saphires trunk post, il look back for it. I was thinking to preserve the cloth maybe taping off the wood and leather and using a light coat of poly spray or maybe even hairspray might work. want to keep it the way it is as much as possible, just want it to last another couple generations

[sapphire]

Here it is........

http://www.antique-shop.com/forums/index.php?topic=12031.0


I need to go back a reread a lot of the advice.......don't retain a hell of a lot in my noggin.