Why Antique Trunks Still Carry History – Varon Remembers

Trunks aren’t just containers. They’re keepers of journeys. Before cheap mass buy storage trunk appeared, trunks were the way people travelled. Built solid, heavy duty, sometimes decorated with brass corners or painted lettering. I still think about when the circus came to town once a year. Posters glued to walls promised elephants, fire breathers, acrobats — and always clowns. Looking at the trunk feels like it was there backstage, stuffed with costumes and props, waiting for the show to begin.

When I first stumbled across the circus clown trunk, I stopped in my tracks. The red-nosed clown staring upside down across the front felt like more than decoration. It felt like a piece of a lost world — a carnival gone by.