What would you do with this old trunk?

[caseyjo]

I'm going to sand it down, but keep the old stickers on it, stain or paint it & most likely use it as a coffee table.....

If you found this old trunk sitting on the road, what would you do with it? Leave it,  take it & sell it to someone outright, or re-finish it? If you were to refinish it, what would you do to it & what would you use it for?

[caseyjo]

I know if I had to move from this 3 bedroom house, I could easily move into a single without fretting about what I will leave behind.....Only thing is I like doing my crafts & that takes a small room in itself....I'm something of a survivalist so I have plans made in case life ever gets hard again....I know what to pack in the good ol back-pack &  what should go in the shopping cart. I am a camper so I have a good light weight sleeping bag good in cold weather, so I could walk out of this house well prepared..I even have a box of stuff in the back room I keep for Fl. storms & a generator out back.... Unfortunately..going homeless the generator would have to stay....

[caseyjo]

I read about that...Yikes....

[caseyjo]

The info on the trunk I asked for sent from Belhaven college library.........

 

The insignia on the trunk is that of Belhaven College dating from 1925 to the late twenties.

 

[Please see attached photos].

 

We deduce that the center of the insignia represents the five petals of the ‘Cherokee White Rose.’  The background is the stem structure of the plant.  Photo #1 shows the 1^st use of the insignia in the 1925 yearbook. 

 

Page 2 of the 1925 yearbook (photo #2 identifies the Cherokee white rose).  The 1927 yearbook continues the theme with a dedication to Jackson (white rose border).

 

The latin is conditia non ministrari sed ministrare.  Conditia means “established.”  And, the rest is the school motto: “not to be served, but to serve.”

It all runs together.

 

Condita MCMXI  - established 1911

 

1911 is the date that Belhaven’s current campus was established, after a fire in 1910.  The school now (correctly) asserts 1883 as its founding date.  

I will post more pics tomorrow..The pics I downloaded from the collage went to zip on my computer somewhere..Not where i expected them to be & I stll have to take a few more trunk pics...It got dark before I had a chance.

[TeeBubbaDee]

caseyjo, I always found that chasing down the "histiory" of a piece was very rewarding. When I had my shop, the best selling point was being able to tell a potential coustomer the story of a piece, and how it survivied.

[caseyjo]

I might add my own history to it... decoupage on the inside a few more little pieces for the imagination to follow.....

I got the Gojo..It's working great......The difference is pretty amazing...esp. in the hardware which was really rusty.....Thanks for your help & everyone else too......More pics tomorrow & then again when I finish cleaning it & again when I put it in my living room as a coffee table with a piece of glass on top...I think I may have a piece just the right size for it in the back room....Thanks 

[Jaylee53]

yet....another *bump*!!!

[Jaylee53]

Just some spring house cleaning....airing out the dusty rooms....letting in some fresh air.  :-D

[caseyjo]

Trunks on hold........I haven't even worked on it.......But when I do i will put up pics like I said......

[CraigD]

Put junk in it ?

[caseyjo]

Its a good place for junk...wobble wobble wobble

[caseyjo]

Here it is as a coffie table....I think it needs a little stain in the mistakenly sanded places (I decided not to paint it like I had originally planned to do). Tee Bub...What kind of stain would be best to use?..I just need a very light touch of something to make the lighter places blend into the rest of the trunk.....I have heard shoe polish works, but I tried it years ago & the polish got on my clothes any time I got near that old desk I polished....Any ideas? Other than that I think it makes a pretty cool lookin Coffe Table....It has personality.