When John Nicholson’s sold an exceptionally rare Louis Vuitton wardrobe steamer trunk dating from the 1920s or earlier for £162,500 including premium on June 11, it hit the headlines.Now, only a month later, another Explorer trunk has sold at the auctioneer’s for £90,000, and consignors are queuing up to sell at the Fernhurst rooms. With a third making £6,750, that’s a total of £259,250 from three lots in two sales.
The £162,500 Explorer trunk sold in June was covered in zinc, copper, brass or aluminium to cope with the singular challenges of tropical climates.The company made just a few of these, and all in 1892, although released later. The 44 x 22 x 21½in wardrobe steamer trunk at John Nicholson’s Fernhurst rooms had the unique sales number 748929. Dating to the early 1920s or earlier, it was missing the paper label and almost all the internal fittings, though those that remained identified it as a double hanging wardrobe trunk rather that one with a chest of drawers to one side.The surviving central catch was engraved with the Louis Vuitton name, Champs Elysée and the original London address of the company, 149 New Bond Street, opened in 1900 and closed in 2010 when the store moved across the road.It attracted 11 bidders, with the successful buyer attending the sale in person.
That success attracted two trunks to John Nicholson’s July 23 auction.
The first was another early 20th century Louis Vuitton Explorer trunk carrying the sales number 42316 on the later Strand label to the interior. Intriguingly, the original Oxford Street address printed on the label was crossed out and superseded by a printed address for the company’s new address in The Strand.The move took place in 1889, but this trunk was later, and it appears that instead of throwing away the old labels, they kept the stock going with this adjustment for some years. Although not as rare as the earlier trunk, it carried an estimate of £20,000-30,000, but went on to sell for £90,000.
Separately, a Louis Vuitton travelling trunk with the sales number 30539, handwritten on surviving label to the interior, took a high estimate £6,750.Now the auctioneer has revealed that further consignments are already on the way, with one of them being a Courier trunk dating to c.1885-90 slated for sale in the autumn with an estimate of £6,000-8,000.Featuring beige and brown stripes to the exterior and reinforced with wooden battens and brass catches and corner braces riveted to the leather strapwork, this trunk has a detailed provenance that includes a voyage to South Africa during the Boer War in 1900 on the Union Castle shipping line.
“It’s clear that the results we have had recently for Louis Vuitton luggage have established our reputation as the saleroom of choice for such pieces,” said John Nicholson. “We already have further consignments, and the phone is ringing with additional enquiries.”
