Do you need help knowing the value of your trunk?

Send us photos of the 6 sides with the dimensions, we will do everything to help you determine the history and possibly the value of your object.

We believe, as a professional, that this service is free but does not have expert value for insurance companies. An expertise is carried out by an expert paid for it, and not by a restorer Only a professional expert recognized by the courts will be able to carry out a complete expertise.

 

We give you an estimate, not an expertise since this cannot be done on photos. An expertise is carried out with the object in front of him, the expert commits to the authenticity and not to the value of the property. List of necessary information to help you evaluate a trunk (both in terms of work and the value of the piece): - 1 photo of the front, bottom and back - 1 photo on each side - 1 photo of the interior + the dimensions of the room + the writings written on labels, locks, nails, straps...

 

For any estimate request on a VUITTON trunk, please read the blog article before

 

How much for my Vuitton in the shop window ?


DETERMINING PRICE or VALUE ANALYSIS

(Valid for our purchases or our sales!)
As you will notice, prices are not necessarily linked to the time spent for restoration. What determines the value of a trunk? Apart from the 4 great references that are Goyard, Vuitton, Moynat and Hermès, the price of a trunk depends on some basic criterions.

1 Dimensions :

The larger a trunk is, the more expensive. Over one meter, it is an exception and the price rises proportionally; below 40 cm as well because it is a less common small trunk.
Standard dimensions are:
Classic trunk around 80x50x40 cm
High trunk around 80x60x40 cm
Steamer trunk (large) 90x50x50 cm
Cabin trunk 100 x from 33 to 36 cm high x 50 deep
Wardrobe trunk: small from 80 to 100 cm x 40x45 cm, large from 100 to 160 cm x50x50 cm.

2.Materials and jewelry

A trunk equipped with splendid solid brass locks will have a higher value than the same trunk which would have ordinary tinplate locks.
Brass handles will be preferred to metal handles; finely cut leather handles in excellent condition will themselves be more sought-after than basic bent iron handles.
A leather trunk binding is much more beautiful than the same one, pigskin or metal made.
You will find bindings made of:
- Leather (the best)
- Leather parchment
- Metal
- Lozine or vulcanized fiber (often mistaken for leather)
- Papier-mâché (often mistaken for fiber or leather).

3 Period
A trunk from the 1900s will be preferred to a model from the forties or fifties.
A trunk from the 1850s is rare.
Finally, most of the 18th century trunks are seldom in good condition.
Not very common, they are not much sought-after nowadays; it is a case where rarity is not synonymous with value.
The same goes for Vuitton for instance where the trunks from the beginning (1854) with grey or black canvas have almost no market value, while a trunk with the same dimensions but with monogram canvas will have a very good value.

4 Models and shapes

The “market” has always had a preference for dome top trunks; therefore they generally have a higher value. However they are not always the best choice…
A dome top trunk can only be used as a decoration, whereas a flat top trunk can be used as a coffee table, a bedside table, small exhibition shelves, etc.
Bentwood banded trunks often meet these two requests: decoration and practical side.
Very unusual trunks (American trunk, metal coated trunk, trunk with special labels, commode trunk, harp trunk, wardrobe trunk, etc.) are so hard to find in good condition that their value is always higher than the one of identical items without originality.
The uniqueness of France:
In some countries, such as the United States and in a lesser extent Switzerland, a trunk must be totally refurbished to be appreciated, whereas, here in France on the contrary, a trunk must be restored judiciously and kept as close as possible in its original state. Thus a trunk with its original canvas, if the latest is unusual (striped, damier, crocodile, leather…), will have a greater value even if it is sprinkled here and there with marks or other small tears.

5 Condition
A totally new trunk would have no soul, little charm… By contrast a trunk that would crumble into dust at the first impact would be of no use.
So the general condition of a trunk is very important. We abstain from tampering. We do not want any trunk whose wooden parts would have been changed. It is important for us not to buy, and consequently not to sale, trunks whose heart is not original.

6 . Putting on sale an item from the museum
Indeed it may happen that we sale a trunk that was prior exhibited in our museum; that happens when we replace a trunk with another one which we have just found and which seems to represent even better its style or its generation.