"The Saratoga"

In April of 1992, I stumbled upon my first antique trunk at a car swap here in Northern California.  It was a barrel top in the Saratoga class, leather-covered.  I had been fascinated with these old "treasure chests" since I was a child, and when I spotted this one, there was no way I would be leaving the swap meet without it!

The leather was hardened to almost a crystallized state and was peeling and even missing from several areas. But.. inside I found the remnants of what must have been (at one time) a richly decorated, ornate, late 1800's “Saratoga Trunk“.   

The latching draw bolts have a  patent date of July 1873.   There is an original "lithograph" in the lid, completely intact, of what I have named “the Heidi scene”.   It appears to be more of an original oil painting than a lithograph.  The left compartment in the lid of the trunk holds the "lithograph" surrounded by plush brown velvet fabric, edged with purple and gold banding. The tray was missing I remember, and to the best of my memory a previous owner had already stripped away any prior interior lining in the bottom. Lesson learned.. Don’t forget the “before" PIX!

I remember that my first step in restoring the trunk was to free up the original rollers on the bottom of the trunk, to facilitate moving it around. I was pleased that I could salvage the rollers with just a little W-D 40 and TLC. 

Next, I decided that I wanted to try to save the leather covering. It became a “labor of love”, involving many enjoyable hours of cleaning (NO WATER EVER!) I think I must have tried everything! Saddle soap, Lexol and mink oil were among the products I experimented with, as well as 0000 steel wool pads and superfine sandpaper to gently remove over 100 years of dirt and grime that ultimately revealed beautiful, antique, hand tooled leather. I used a “secret” method to restore the leather where it was missing and over these many years it has stood the test of time.

I have not yet completed the restoration of this trunk.  I hope to get back on the project as my time allows.  In the meantime, my love of antique trunks has grown.