Hi Gang,
During our trip to New York State, we visited the Medina Railroad Museum.
http://www.railroadmuseum.net/It is run by it's enthusiastic creator/owner/director Martin Phelps, who greeted us personally and told us how he sold his house to build it to house a collection of railroad artifacts and an enormous model train. I was so impressed with the museum and the enthusiasm that Martin has for it that I talked to him about donating an old steamer trunk I have. I would like to get an approximate date on it for him.
Here is what I can tell you about it. It is in 100% original condition. It is 36-1/2" length, by 20" width, by 23" height. It has never been cleaned, restored or altered, only stored and dusted. It is made of wood, covered entirely in the original canvas. It has metal fittings and hardware, with wooden slats, rawhide trim and leather handles and bindings. It still bears the original owners initials on the side, E.P.K. and has cargo stickers from Wells Fargo, American Railway Express Co. and Am Ry Exp. Co. It was made by C.A. Malm & Co of San Francisco, which started up in 1864. The original manufacturer's label is still inside. The interior of the trunk still has the original canvas lining with no rips or tears, and ribbons in the top for photos, papers and small item storage. The rollers are original, intact and functional. The lock is original, missing the key, but seems fully functional as it still moves. the interior drawer shelf is missing. The destination cities on the labels are Monterey CA, Carmel CA and Palo Alto CA. There is a very nearly identical one in the museum at Hearst Castle, that belonged to Wm. Randolf Hearst. Some of the leather straps are missing, some are there. The handles are worn, but are intact and functional, still able to lift it fully loaded.
I purchased this trunk in Boulder Creek CA in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was found hidden underneath the Palo Alto CA home of a family who were taken to a Japanese prisoner of war camp during WWII. It was filled with their photographs. It is not known what happened to them and I do not have the photos, just the trunk was sold to me. I do not know the name of the family. The lady I bought it from said that the story in the neighborhood was that they were arrested because their daughter had married the son of Emperor Hirohito. I researched this and there seems to be no truth to it. I suspect it was the neighborhoods way of justifying what had been done to the family and the story stayed with the trunk all these years. For the last five years it has been a prop for the Tales of the Seven Seas Pirate Reenactors. Lots of kids picked up pirate treasure from inside the trunk during the five years or so that it has been with us!
Here are the photos:
Front of the trunk:
Front of the trunk, lid open:
Side of the trunk with owner's initials and cargo label. You can get a good look at the rawhide trim in this one:
Side of the trunk with owner's initials
Bottom of the trunk with labels:
Back of the trunk with one label:
Interior lid with canvas and ribbons. The canvas on the interior of the trunk looks the same as this, plain and unpainted canvas, with metal fittings for a shelf.
Closeups of the labels:
Manufacturer's label inside the lid, C.A. Malm & Co of San Francisco:
American Railway Express Co label, with an old Wells Fargo label underneath it. I think this one is really neat and might help to get an approximate date on the trunk, with the old Wells Fargo label. It looks like Wells Fargo operated a private express stage line from 1862 to 1865 out of San Francisco. They also bought Pacific Express Railways in 1868 and started shipping on the Transcontinental railroad. Here is a great article with details on that,
http://www.answers.com/topic/wells-fargo-companyHere is the photo of the American Label over the older Wells Fargo label:
Up-close of the corner where you can see the Wells Fargo name:
More labels:
Wheels, all four are like this, intact and fully functional:
I'm leaning towards 1880 to 1910? Can anyone help me determine the date? Any other comments?
