This trunk was possibly owned by my ancestor, Lavina Fryling Shipe who lived from 8/29/1814 to 3/15/1877 and was married to Samuel Shipe. The Shipes had 6 children - John, Isacc F., Henry, Washington, Louisa C. and Reuben who was killed while shooting off an anvil loaded with gun powder. (I do not know the year.) All this I know from my family tree. A copy of that section is available to you when you purchase the trunk.

The reason I say this trunk was possibly owned by my ancestor is because I do not know that for sure. I was at an antique sale in Selinsgrove, Penna, and saw this trunk. There is a signature, Lavina Shipe, written on it inside in pencil. When I saw it, knowing she might be an ancestor, I purchased it. I am now growing older, have no children and no one in my family wants the trunk. Knowing I cannot take it with me when I die, I am willing to part with it.

I have a lot more pictures of the original hardware (which has a patent date of July 1, 1873 stamped on it, and many more pictures of the inside, back, bottom, sides, etc. of the trunk that ebay would not give me enough room to display. These extra pictures can be emailed to you to give you a better idea of what it looks like if you are seriously interested.

In researching antique trunks for my description, I think this trunk could be a Saratoga-grade in that it has quite a few compartments inside. There were numerous tray and lid compartments in Victorian trunks, ranging from basic to complex. A basic tray system comprised a hat box, a shirt compartment, a coin box, and a document box which I believe this trunk is an example of a basic tray system. A barrel-stave Saratoga-grade trunk with protective metal banding on each of the horizontal oak slats. "Grade" means that the trunk is superiorly built.

Saratoga trunks were the premium trunks of many makers (or the exclusive design of many premium trunk makers) and actually can encompass nearly every other style of trunk manufactured if loosely-defined, although generally they are limited to before the 1880s. The most readily-recognizable feature of Saratogas are their myriad (and generally very complex) compartments, trays, and heavy duty hardware. (I don't have any idea as to the exact creation date of this trunk.)

Barrel-staves are sometimes referred to as a form of dome-top trunk, but generally date from a decade or more earlier and are notable for having horizontal slats instead of vertical, giving it a distinctive look and construction. These were generally made from the late 1870s to the mid-1880s.

Beautiful lithographs would be placed over the lids or dome of the trunk and truly capture the Victorian aesthetic of that day. There were numerous chromolithographs that a trunk maker could use, and they could be indicative of who the trunk was intended for, such as ladies or men. A bride's chest usually had a lot of floral pictures or lithographs of other ladies, while men's had pictures of "village" or country scenes. It was up to the malletier (the trunk maker) what to put on the lids and trays. This is definitely a ladies trunk and could possibly be a bride's trunk due to the lithographs of ladies on it. It is a seaside scene with one Victorian woman dressed very fancy and the other is in a bathing suit. There are two lithographs on the trunk of the same scene.

Dome-top, camel-back, hunch-back, or hump-back are not only the most commonly trunks referred to as antique, but also are among the most popular.

The condition of the trunk is in my estimation is good in most areas but if wanted it restored it to a beautiful and enviable condition, you would have to put a little work into it.

As far as shipping is concerned, I have noted that it can be shipped via Fed Ex Ground. Ebay told me to add to this description section that you, as the highest bidder, would have to go to www.fedex.com and put in my zip code and your zip code and the weight to get an estimate what the shipping cost would be. You would need to do this before you pay for the trunk. You can actually do this ahead of time, even before the bidding ends, and see what the shipping cost would be approximately. If you have ANY questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask me. I have placed a reserve amount on this trunk in order to protect my investment. PS I had to put UPS Ground in as the shipper because it wouldn't let me list the trunk without a shipper name. But it IS going to be sent via Fed Ex so please go to www.fedex.com to calculate your shipping charge. Thank you.

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On Jun-01-11 at 16:01:59 PDT, seller added the following information:

 The measurements of the trunk with packaging will be 40x30x24 and it weights 60 lbs.  I am going to try to call Greyhound to see what their charges would be. Please check with me if you are interested in this item.