One of the things I love about antiques are the stories that come with them! It has been a quite a few years now but there was this old convent that shutdown and liquidated its contents in my hometown. And of course knowing me I am always up for a antique sale. Now I will admit I am fortunate to of acquired quite a few pieces from this sale, but I am specifically think right now about the trunks I bought.
Now I’ve said many times before that I don’t think of myself as a religious person, however I have the upmost respect for this group of women who did so much for the community. They where community leaders, they established the first hospital, they set the foundation for all the schools, and whenever the community was in need they would always step up to the plate and did whatever was needed. The world should all take a page out of their book and it would be a better place.
The story of the covenant's founding started with three nuns who came over from Germany. These three pioneering women started the first covent of their order in the nation in the 1800s. The town they chose was in its infancy, and it was in the middle of nowhere in the untamed wilderness of Pennsylvania. These three trunks was were it started. They loaded up and left the life they knew with these three trunks and took a leap of faith into the unknown. What hidden history they hold and I am so happy that I am able to keep all three of them together, and be able to keep their story alive!
Yours truly,
Nicklas
Side Note: Since I am renovating a entire house these trunks as well as a lot of other furniture are tightly packed away in two of the spare bedrooms that you can't even walk through without unloading. Why am I telling you this? Well, I don't have a photo of the third trunk....
As you can tell from the photo that two of them are actually a matching set but in different sizes. The third one has a arched top though!
RANDOM FACT
Steamer trunks that had a arched top were more expensive the purchase back in the day then ones with flat tops. The arched ones however were much more desirable though especially for transatlantic travel.
Why?
Because once aboard the large trunks like this would be placed in the hull of the ship for storage during the voyage. (Remember that scene from Titanic with Jack and Rose in the car?) These trunks held everything a lot of families owned who were seeking a better life and were extremely heavy.
Just as you may remember seeing in the film, these trunks were often stacked upwards of ten high. Because of the extreme weight of the trunks above the bottom few would commonly become crushed under the pressure of everything above. And the families would lose everything they owned if their trunk had the misfortune of being placed at the bottom of the stack.
A arched trunk if they could afford it however has its benefits. It doesn't allow for more trunks to stack on it due to its shape, thus granting its owner the spot on top of the pile and ensuring a chance of a safer passage of their belongings.
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