Box (Trunk)

Description

This two-color leather small trunk or box ornamented with brass "nails" (with high top heads) preserves the handwork of many specialists, including the maker of the marbled pink and gray paper lining the interior. According to the inscription on the escutcheon plate, the trunk was given by John M. Allen (1802-1847) of the United States Navy to a Miss H.P. Beale, most likely in Washington, DC in 1824 when Allen briefly served as a midshipman. To date, Miss Beale is unidentified, but Allen's subsequent career earned public attention as he joined American and British efforts in support of Greece's independence. Following several years with the Greek navy, he returned to champion independence in Texas in the 1830s where he then was elected as mayor of Galveston.