Trunk Philosophy

Written by Gary Daniel
Owner of Shenandoah Antique Restoration

There are people who will tell you that old trunks are not antiques at all in the purest description of the word. There also are many who disagree with this.

I see antique trunks as a wonderful look into the past. To a time when skill and craftsmanship were not dead and there was enough time to build a product such as a Steamer trunk in a way that just is not routinely done anymore.

There seem to be 3 schools of thought (maybe more) about how antique trunks should be restored or refinished. Or shall we say, to what extent they should be restored or refinished? At Shenandoah Restoration, we know that we will never become wealthy restoring trunks, but we are craftsmen and we feel obliged to restore a trunk to the way it looked when it was manufactured 100 or more years ago.

Back to the 3 schools of thought... Many restorers re-do a trunk by cutting off the embossed tin, leather, or canvas and finishing the wood underneath, leaving the wood slats and buffed small metal parts there and stopping the aging of the trunk in its tracks. then the whole trunk is given a clear coat of a modern finish and called restored. On that subject, I see the idea of removing the Embossed tin, leather, or canvas on a trunk akin to removing the veneer from a fine piece of furniture and leaving the substrate wood there to stain and finish. Hardly how the Old Masters of furniture making planned it.

Still, other restorers will paint each piece of small metal on a trunk with gold paint, grind all the paint off of the embossed metal, or paint the canvas on a canvas-covered trunk with modern paint color and line the inside with vinyl wallpaper or calico fabric. Again, we at Shenandoah Restoration do not see this as true restoration.

Lastly, there are restorers who strive to recapture the look of an antique trunk as it was in 1800 - 1930 - restoring the detail and flavor of the 1800s and 1900s; a time when they were in their heyday and actually a sign of wealth in some instances.

At Shenandoah Restoration, we welcome your ideas on what you would like your restored trunk to look like, and if you desire your trunk to be restored in an above-mentioned way, we will work with you as best we can.

We simply love old trunks and we also enjoy making people happy by restoring their trunks in ways that make them happy to have them in their home, maybe even to be passed down to future generations.