A very rare and hard to find tack trunk made by Duncan Macpherson (husband of Daphne Macpherson of the original Cascade Models, in the Seattle area) some years ago. I don't remember exactly when he made it, but it was at least 10 years ago as Duncan died 8 years ago and he wasn't creating very much in the year or so leading up to his death. Daphne and I figure it was a raffle at NW Congress one year, but neither of us remember the exact details, so don't quote me on that. The trunk is royal blue with real metal brass trim and is Traditional scale. The trunk measures 4.25 inches long, 2.5 inches wide and 3 inches high. The trunk is 1/9th scale, approximately. Priced at $200.00
Please note: this trunk was made for those in the model horse figurine hobby and is NOT full size. It's made to be in scale with the Traditional size horse figurines. Even though this trunk was made for a hobby, Duncan put in all sorts of time into making it, with his usual attention to detail.
I've had this trunk for years and have used it as part of showing performance, so there is some wear and tear on it. But that's appropriate since a full size "real" trunk would receive wear and tear after being used. I do not know if you can buff out the smudges, as I've never tried and I'm clueless about stuff like that. Daphne says you should be able to polish out the light/thin scratches with a high end auto type waxing/polish/finish compound. The brass finish does need to be polished with something like Brasso, which I've never done.
Duncan used an auto-type lacquer paint (Daphne thinks it was auto paint, but she can't remember and Duncan didn't keep any records of his work) and hand rubbed at least 5 coats of paint on to the fine grain, light weight bass wood. It has a very nice, smooth finish and is so much more lovely in person than these photos can ever show. The front hinge is fully working and comes complete with a miniature working lock! The hasp (is that the name for it?) goes into the lock part. I don't know if it actually does lock, as I've never wanted to try it as I might be unable to open it and could damage it trying. Nevertheless, it looks like the real thing and does open and close. I would not close it too tight though, just in case! There is a small slot in the bottom of the lock, but if it came with a key or some such, I've lost it long time ago. Daphne doesn't think it really does work as she says she has the only key he made, but again she's not 100% sure since he didn't leave records.
Yes, the trunk does open! And on the inside you'll find a removable drawer that sits on some strips of wood to keep it in place. The wood is a very fine grain, light weight bass wood and is very durable and well made. Duncan put a lot of time into his work. Most of his work was traded at the time for models for Daphne and this was one of the few that wasn't. I've felt very fortunate to be it's owner for all these years, but a large car repair bill requires me to sell it.
Here's the top of the trunk. You might be able to see the lighter colored smudge towards the middle front of the trunk lid. There's a few other "streaky" smudges on the top. As mentioned - it does have some wear and tear.
There are a few light scratches on this side and around the handle. The handles do flip up a bit, although I never played with them too much as I didn't want to break them. (I don't know how much stress they can take and I didn't want to chance it.)
The other side doesn't show very much wear and tear, if any. In some ways it's hard to tell as your fingerprints can smudge on the finish, but they're easily wiped off.
Here's the bottom showing how the trunk is set on top of two strips of wood for support and there's a gold colored pin head (I think) for the feet. No wear and tear on this side. The white bits on the bottom strips are some fuzz from the air that I didn't notice while taking the picture. Oops!
Here's the back side - unfortunately it's blurry and by the time I saw this photo all of my photo gear was put away. There is a bit of wear and tear on this side. All of the wear and tear areas are hard to see, unless you look under a strong light and with a close eye (except for the wear marks on the lid). I don't think they detract in any way from the beauty of this finely detailed, miniature tack trunk. I haven't a clue as to what this trunk would be worth to anyone else, so I put a price of $200.00 on it, due to its rareness and uniqueness. This might be the only one done in royal blue and Duncan didn't make very many of them to start with. If you're familiar with Duncan's work, you're going to realize that $200.00 is well worth it. If you're not, you'll probably freak! Sorry!
