When I first laid eyes on the circus clown trunk, I froze for a moment. The painted face staring upside down across the front felt like more than decoration. It felt like a fragment of a lost world — a carnival gone by. I still think about when the circus came to town once a year. Posters glued to walls promised elephants, antique chest 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.

Trunks aren’t just wooden boxes. They’re pieces of history. Before cheap mass best storage trunk (information from Toulouse) appeared, trunks were the way people travelled. Built solid, heavy duty, sometimes decorated with brass corners or vintage trunk painted lettering.