GUEST: I brought an old trunk that I inherited from my father, who, he inherited it from a very good friend of his.
APPRAISER: When you inherited it from your father, where did you find it?
GUEST: We found it underneath a carport in his house, covered up with a blanket. Didn't think anything about it. My brother and I were going to throw it in the trash, and my wife said, "It's going home with me."
APPRAISER: So you inherited it from your father, and how did he come to own it?
GUEST: He was a very good friend of Gertrude Fogler, who was a speech teacher for MGM Studios. She willed almost everything to him that was left.
APPRAISER: And we have here a photograph of Gertrude and your father. And would this have been when he was acting and taking his diction classes from her?
GUEST: Yes, this would have been about 1968 that this picture was taken.
APPRAISER: As far as I can tell, this is the first Goyard trunk that's come into "Antiques Roadshow." Maison Goyard had its origins in a firm called Maison Martin that stared in 1792. And the first Goyard to enter that firm entered in 1845. Goyard got its genesis in the late 18th century, but it's still in business today. It's labeled in several places. I'm going to go ahead and open it so we can see some of the most prominent markings of it. So when we open it, the first thing we're presented with is a lift-out tray here that's got the Goyard branding on the straps. And then the lift-out liner here has all the Goyard branding on the straps. This is all original to the trunk. The trunk is from the early 20th century, and that's really nice to have the lift-out liner. The condition of the interior here is really wonderful. Very bright, very clean still. And then we get around to where we have the Goyard label. And that's got a serial number. Aside from this metal tag on the end, we also see the traditional pattern of the Goyard trunks and their handbags and all of their goods and accessories. We've also got some travel stickers. So she traveled around quite a bit. And you mentioned some of the cities she traveled to.
GUEST: She went from Paris to Morocco to China, London, Nova Scotia, Boston, New York, and then to L.A., where she ended up.
APPRAISER: So she saw a lot of the world and I think this trunk tells part of that story.
GUEST: Yeah, it's got a few nicks and scratches in it.
APPRAISER: Exactly-- it's had a life.
GUEST: But it's very well-built.
APPRAISER: And so Talking about the nicks and scratches, condition is a very important component of value with any object. And we've got some issues here, as we see on the back, with some losses to the canvas surface. We've got quite a bit of loss here on the lid. Some rough condition to the wood and the metal. But a lot of this can be improved upon by a very good luggage restorer, especially the metal and wood parts. The canvas is a little tougher, but it can still be improved upon. And then another part of this trunk that tells its story are these painted initials. So this is actually quite in vogue back in the early 20th century through today, to paint your monogram on your Louis Vuitton trunk, your Goyard handbag. And so I think Gertrude may have purchased this secondhand, because obviously her initials weren't "F.W."
GUEST: I know, I agree.
APPRAISER: So once you've had a little bit of attention paid to it, worked on the leather, worked on the metal, done what you can with the canvas, in a retail setting that handles these really wonderful trunks that the French were making, I think you're looking at a retail price in the range of $4,000.
GUEST: Okay. Surprising. I had no idea. So that's good to know.
APPRAISER: In its current condition, I think its retail value would be around $2,000, which would also probably be around the low end of an auction estimate.
GUEST: Okay. It's been a footstool in my house for 20 years. (laughs) I put a towel over it, and I put my feet on it.
