Junk Yard Gypsy Merry Christmas to You!

Merry Christmas to You and Yours & a Happy New Year!

Kindergarten Dream Comes True Through a JunkYard Gypsy History Tour

I love being a JunkYard Gypsy.  I always find some new treasure to discover and research.

Like this vintage travel chest.

 Most people grow up wanting to be doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs – I wanted to be an archeologist since I was in kindergarten.  Seriously it’s in that little book, my mother kept.  The one that has pockets to put keepsakes, report cards and place to glue your school picture, lists your teachers, your pets and what you want to be when you grow up.

Yeah this is it – ha, ha, bet you have one too!

Later I decide I wanted to be a magazine editor, so my junior and senior year of high school I was the yearbook editor.  Well I never became an archeologist, nor did I become a magazine editor.  Instead I packed my 78 Nova with all my worldly possessions and headed for Texas.

But that’s a different story.

Most of these trunks are toy doll cases, and rightly so as you can tell by the racks and small pull out drawer, but this one had a drop leaf drawer on the top, and it peaked my interest (ok, it doesn’t take much).  Anyway, I was seriously expecting these to be fake stickers, but they are not, they are actual railway and ship stickers from real companies during the 1920’s to the 1940’s.  I learned about Magic Island/Treasure Island in San Francisco during the 1930’s World’s fair, the Dole Plantation, and others all from studying these stickers.  It was kind of fun traveling by train and ship all around the United States discovering these locations.

Doing so, I discovered that people used these small chests to store above their berths or under their seats with small personal items.  Mark Twain use to keep and send his manuscripts in one and forward it on to his publisher.

Now my mind is really going, and I’m so loving this chest thinking that some author might have kept their most prized manuscripts in it to ship from one great journey to another.

What Fun! I’m getting to explore my love for history through my junking research.  Guess I’m reverting to my childhood by vicariously exploring my kindergarten dream.

And I get to combine text and pictures!

If you want to learn more about Crack Trains (yes that what they use to call some railroad lines), take a look at the listing.  This little trunk has some wonderful history.