RESTORATION OF A PARTIALLY DESTROYED LOUIS VUITTON WARDROBE TRUNK

The advertisements between private individuals, auction rooms are the places of quest of the sweet dreamers who hunt for  the good deal  ! Unfortunately good deals are scarce and we are going to tell you one of those stories that are not lacking in spice . When our client finds this ad, he is convinced he is  getting a good deal by buying an authentic Louis Vuitton wardrobe trunk , at the best price. And indeed on paper NOTHING allowed him to predict what would happen next.

Announcement:  Wardrobe, Louis Vuitton trunk

Magnificent Wardrobe in coated canvas, stenciled monogram,

Lozine border, beech reinforcements.

Solid brass lock, clasp and corners.

Wardrobe including male and female hangers.

6 drawers: leather handles with interior locking mechanism accessible from the drawer,

9 hangers,

Year: around 1920

The trunk is vintage, shows signs of wear on the canvas and inside, but remains in good condition for its age.

Dimensions: H.: 110 cm.L .: 55 cm.P .: 55 cm.

A note: a little shock

Comes with the Louis Vuitton Key.

The seller had taken care to send this link to reassure the buyer. Leaving to glimpse that it would make a saving of -40%compared to the estimate of an expert.

But as you can read in a previous article these estimates have no value . This story is still the sad demonstration of this.

... It was already too late ! By analyzing the photos received, we could see very poor quality repairs and several "strange" details such as:

• The underside 
• Cut wooden slats 
• Its numerous labels that hid things that could be seen in the photos of the ad. 

But we were still VERY far from imagining the rest.

A few days later we receive the trunk in our workshops. Unpleasant surprises follow one another and leave us speechless ! It is rare to see so many hidden defects on the same trunk, a pure swindle ! Our desperate client understood that he had been ripped off .  

The entire underside of the trunk had been "made up" . But why ? we still didn't know:

• The canvas below was plastic and smelled terrible . It was a fake Louis Vuitton canvas from a fake Keepall bag. You could make out the seams of the handles. The canvas had also been laid randomly because the logo was reversed  between the two parts of the cover.

• The rust- eaten steels were masticated and covered with a thick coat of black paint.

• No leather handle

• The lozine replaced by a leather on which our margoulin had written VVVV with a ballpoint pen, seeking to imitate the initials LV ...

• The original lozine belt had been replaced by brown waxed cardboard , all glued with glue.

• The nails, also glued , were only a few millimeters high , and were fixed like tacks.

• There were also screws with nail heads stuck on them.

The interior was not to be outdone, on one side what remained of the original was worn to the tune: 

• The torn fabric

• Bad smells

• The broken leather handles glued together with glue.

Maintenance trunk

On the other hand, what had been made up had to be completely redone. A repair based on newspaper, orange wallpaper and a succession of boards, pieces of cardboard glued and stapled to each other. Far from the original finishes of this 1935 trunk.

It was at this moment that this trunk appeared to us as an air of deja vu! We then set out on a quest. We will need several hours of research in our thousands of photos, emails, sms, mms ... archives of all the requests received in recent years. BINGO ! We find an email of a request made 2 years previously but the person had not responded ... It was indeed our trunk!

A Louis Vuitton wardrobe trunk stored in humidity and eaten by insects , fungi and other pests . It was then that we understood the extent of the work to be done , the many transformations and missing parts on this trunk. Our client, furious and annoyed , gave us carte blanche. He knew he was going to lose his feathers, but that we were the only ones able to get him out of this impasse and restore his trunk while respecting the rules of the art.

It was time for us to take action. But a bad feeling came over us. While we thought we had seen everything from this trunk, the rest made our blood run cold! When we dismantled all the "tinkered" elements and we removed the attacked and contaminated wood that damaged the very structure of the trunk, white larvae came out of the wood and fell to the ground!

The trunk was inhabited! A sight of horror ! In addition to having done anything during the "restoration" the person had not even treated the wood and the larvae continued to destroy this historic trunk a little more every day!

We had to intervene QUICKLY ! remove all contaminated wood, treat remaining wood and prevent the spread of these pests !

The interior is disassembled for curative treatment entirely with xylophene . Partially cut wooden slats are removed for replacement in their entirety.

Comfort after the storm.  Adjustment and resumption of structure with  poplar wood of the same thickness and of the same nature. It is the traditional work of the carpenter, our core business. Made without any screws! Traditional assembly of the trunk maker in the service of French heritage.

Manufacture of beech wood legs, identical to those there was originally. The love of a job well done.

Eaten away by rust and oxidation , the metal parts had to be redone. These accessories have a real reinforcement function and participate in the structure of the trunk.

The leather handles, glued with glue , could not be kept and our client wanted to be able to use his wardrobe on a daily basis. For this reason we have made identical handles . Without "L. Vuitton" marking of course.

Restoring the original to the original requires great know-how and a lot of patience , so many and important details are involved. The missing canvascomes from a trunk too damaged to be restored. She is from the same generation and the same period , Mark 5.

After the restoration of the structures we were able to proceed with the cleaning of the canvas, the wood and the polishing of the brass.

The torn exterior of the drawers and the missing part of the bottom are  65% completed with old orange Vuittonite canvas . The drawer interiors are redone using our old beige canvas stock. The whole of the original interior is disassembled to treat the wood and put back identically. After restoration this trunk regains all its authenticity.

You will understand by this article the importance of getting closer to us for your acquisitions or restorations of collector's trunk. It is for you the guarantee to buy, or to entrust, your trunks to craftsmen respecting the know-how and the rules of the art. We are the only ones to guarantee you a restoration:

• Without repainting 
• Without varnished canvas 
• Without oilcloth 
• Brushed brass free 
• In compliance with the rules of the art 
• In respect of French know-how 
• Respecting old materials 

The insurance you build wealth , collectibles and decorative high quality that you can t ransmettre to future generations.  

After restoration it is impossible, even for a very discerning eye, to see that this trunk has been restored. Restoration techniques are the same as 90 years ago . Each trunk restoration is a journey, a dream come true . It was with great satisfaction that a duty had been accomplished that we saw the eyes of our client charged with emotion , discovering this trunk that he thought was doomed, come back to life .