American buyers are `into’ restoration of old steamer trunks

Antiques

A few years ago, when antique steamer trunks were all the rage, you couldn’t open a hobby or home decorating magazine without seeing a feature on how to refinish, decoupage or otherwise convert an old trunk into a fashionable accent piece. Today, trunks are still in demand but buyers are more discriminating and restoration is more commonplace than redecoration.

Although not technically considered to be trunks, the precursers to the 19th century version were the sea chests and immigrants chests used to accommodate clothing and linens on the sea passage to America. Made of wood and sometimes decorated with paint as well as the name of the traveler, these first-generation of steamer trunks are now getting hard to find.

The age of travel which began in earnest with the inception of rail and steamboat service brought on the mass production of so-called steamer trunks.

In the early years of the 19th century, when overland travel was a dangerous and tedious affair limited to the stage coach, clothing and household items were carried in large trunks of wood covered in leather, hide and metal. Most large urban centers had at least one trunk manufacturer in the business of hand construction of these early versions of the steamer trunk. Smaller in scale than their later cousins, these coach trunks were often brass-studded.

Today, many of these stage trunks are highly collectible — especially when found in good condition. Age and rarity are factors in their popularity, but their relatively small size makes them particularly attractive to homeowners as well as collectors.

By the end of the Civil War, America was becoming a mobile society. The excursions and migration West by rail, as well as travel by steamboat on every river, lake and across the ocean, created a huge demand for suitable luggage.

Often, travelers moving West carried with them all their worldly goods, and several accommodating trunks were necessary for the trip. Recreational travelers and summer vacationers often packed up the whole household for a voyage or rail journey. Large, powerful steamboats and trains could accommodate enormous amounts of luggage — unlike the stage coach and prarie schooners of an earlier era. The result was a boom in the manufacture and sale of trunks of every description.

By the end of the 19th century it was no longer just the privileged and wealthy who traveled, so manufacturers had to ceate lines of trunks to fit all pocketbooks. For the wealthy traveler there were beautifully hand-tooled leather and brass-bound trunks, often monogrammed and bound with leather straps.

The next line included the fancy dome and turtle-top trunks with fancy painted and embossed metal exterior decoration. These trunks were bound with strips of oak and the interiors were fitted out with trays and compartments. In the area of the domed lid there were usually several compartments with hinged covers. The compartments and covers were decorated with sentimental Victorian pictures and colorful borders.

These trunks of the middle class traveler are perhaps the most sought-after today because they epitomize the style, taste and habits of the late Victorian era. In addition to that, they are very useful for storage, and highly decorative.

Other versions of the steamer trunk are the simple canvas and metal-bound trunks in common use from 1875 to 1920. For the most part, these utilitarian trunks changed little over the years and today they are used in much the same way for storage and as coffee tables.

Of particular interest to collectors today are the small trunks designed for use by children of the 19th century. Some of these trunks were made especially for children and are prized as decorative items, while others are simply small trunks designed for hats and shoes. The latter are found today in children’s rooms or used for accessories by doll collectors.

The final days of rail and steamship travel brought about the development of another version of the steamer trunk. This was the upright trunk with a closet on one side and drawers on the other. The trunks are incredibly heavy and cumbersome but have been popular for years with college students and young couples as convenient storage areas.

The designer versions of the late steamer trunk by manufacturers such as Louis Vuitton are now highly prized by collectors. Those manufactured during the 1920’s and 30’s for trans-Atlantic travel by the well-heeled were designed in the full-blown art deco and moderne themes and are among the most desirable forms of antique luggage found today.

With the end of the age of travel (or at least the Golden Age) came the end of the usefulness of the steamer trunk. They were consigned to attics and sheds, where they became the repository for old clothes, family papers and college memorabilia. They are still used for these purposes, as well as for utilitarian decorative accent pieces, and they are still a realative bargain.

If you find an old trunk in rough condition just remember there are companies which sell virtually every part for restoration. There is no need to destroy the character of the piece.

Robert Croul, the NEWS antiques columnist, lives in Newburgh.