One of My Favorite Finds

GREETINGS!

Today I want to share one of my favorite finds with you. I used to deliver Meals on Wheels for the Senior Center in Troy, Missouri, and one of my clients was Maime ?. I can't for the life of me remember her last name, darn it. Anyway, she was in her 90's and lived by herself; she had a little dog and not much else. I always gave her a big hug when I took her her meal, and we became friends. Then they put Maime in a nursing home, and not long afterwards, she passed away. And not long after that, they had an auction at her house, and towards the end, in the basement, I found this trunk.


The trunk is metal with wood bands. I carefully washed and dried it and cleaned it up as best I could. I did not want to "paint" it or do anything else to cover its patina and beauty. It had been sitting in water at some point when the basement flooded a little, but wasn't too bad.



The inside of the trunk still has some of the original paper used to line it when it was new. A lot of it has been torn off or simply fallen off due to dryness and age. I have chosen to leave the paper on the inside of the lid, and it doesn't look bad. Ronnie had to put a new "false" bottom in it due to rust and termites, but it looks fine and is functional. I line the insides and tray with old fashioned looking contact paper. I use the trunk to store my seasonal clothes.


This is one of the metal "rosettes" that decorate the wood slats on the trunk.












And this is another of the metal decorations on the slats. In the middle of this design is an "X" type of mark, and on it is imprinted "patmark" and the date of 1880.
So this trunk is 130 years old!



Now, do you know what I paid for it???? A total of $5.00! Wasn't that a bargain?!
But guess what else? There was another trunk there also, and Ronnie bought it for another $5.00! It wasn't quite as cool as mine, but still it was nice. (He sold his to my girlfriend for $5.00 because she wanted it.) Inside the trunks we found an old harmonica and some other old things, but nothing much, really. I'm just thrilled to have the trunk and remember Maime. And contemplate where that trunk has been, and how it was used, and by whom! Isn't life grand?

Thank you Lord for bringing such treasures to me. Take care and God bless you with His grace.