A few days ago my husband set something down on the glass coffee table just a little too hard... needless to say it was time for me to pick another coffee table. I decided to go with something rustic and unique and found this on Craigslist- It is an old sugar crate from Austria, with a date of 1888 painted on it's exterior.
The interior was lined in blue paper with this emblem. I ran a search on the name, it looks to be a sugar factory in Austria which was in business from at least the 1830's through the 1880's.
I think what I have here is a crate that was repurposed and painted, maybe to commemorate coming to the USA or a wedding?
Looking inside:
Exterior label:
Individually slotted screws on the hinges:
Forged Iron hinges:
Half mortise lock:
Exterior lock was moved:
Exterior slats on the lid with odd-sized nails.
Handles:
Iron bracing:
Although the trunk seems to pre-date the painted date, there are a lot of scuffs and scratches on the date:
The plan here is to have the glass top re-cut to make a tabletop for this chest. I'll do my best make sure hubby sets things on it ever so geeeeeeently!!
