Antique Family Trunk

If you're into antiques, go get a handkerchief for the drool you're about to, well, drool.

I present to you .... my coffee table.

This is the antique trunk originally belonged to The Captain's great-uncle and great-aunt when they were living in Greece in the 1910s. They immigrated in depression-era America and settled in Aurora, Illinois, where they lived out their lives. In 1953, they sent for one of their nephews, my father-in-law's older brother, to be sent to them in America to live and work. When his brother decided to go to Australia instead, my father-in-law was sent, and so our family's history in America began.

When my in-laws sold the family home were The Captain grew up, we found this old trunk in an attic closet, only containing some table linens and a few Greek dance costumes. I dutifully asked if my mother-in-law or sisters-in-law wanted it for their homes, fingers crossed they would all declined and it could come live at our house. I lucked out!

Here are some detail shots of this beautiful trunk. All of the brass hardware and nail head trim work is original to the trunk.

The original leather handles have split on both sides of the trunk, but the fixtures are still strong. I've debated getting these restored, but there is something honorable about the original leather pieces still being attached. 

The stickers shown below are the departure tags noting the trunk's point of origin of Piraeus, the largest port to Athens.

On the left side of the trunk, are the destination stickers noting New York City. It's faint, but the white square sticker has the faded blue penmanship noting "Bazos, Sam" -- The Captains great-uncle's name. The red sticker says "National Hellenic American Line."

Now the trunk is centered in my living room as a coffee table, with three books on top (Emily Post's "Wedding Ettiquette" (nod to my day-job), "Speeches That Changed The World", and "A History of Aviation (not to The Captain's day-job)), a silver-tone airplane from Pottery Barn, and a Silver Julep Cup of silk Red Hydrangeas.

Not to knock the great products at Ikea, but I'll take this fabulous piece of family history as my coffee table any day of the week.