Readers ask about Lane cedar chests

Fridays at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of the items that they own. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do some preliminary research to get them started. So, these are market values, not appraisal for insurance purposes that I suggest for items that have been determined to be of great value.

This week’s questions are about Lane Furniture cedar chests:

Question:

I just found this post while trying to find out if Lane still offered these little cedar chests to graduating girls. My mother received one in 1955 and believe it or not I was still able to get mine in 1988. I was hoping to be able to get one for my daughter.

Answer:

The reader is referring to a blog post I wrote more than two years ago about Lane Furniture’s mini cedar chests that were distributed through furniture stories.

Lane handed out the free boxes starting in the 1930s with the hope that girls graduating from high school with marriage on their minds would love the boxes and then buy the larger chests for their trousseau. Some furniture stores apparently were still handing them out up into the 1990s. Lane no longer makes them available, according to the company’s website.

These mini chests are apparently still very dear to the women who own them – forever packed with memories and creating a nostalgia for a time when life was so carefree.

The chests are very easy to find. You can buy them on eBay, where prices range from about $6 to $70, and on some retail sites for about $30 to $40. I’m not sure if the town matters – the name of the furniture company, city and state were imprinted on the inside top of the chests – but you can probably find one from a furniture store in a town not far from where you live.

In my blog post, I wondered if African American girls were also given the boxes 50 or so years ago when they graduated. I heard from two women who told me that they had received them.

Question:

I have 2 lane cedar chests that were my mother’s. Her paternal uncle worked for Lane in Alta Vista, VA. One was given to my mother upon her engagement to my father. I have pictures of the chest filled with her wedding gifts and linens. I can’t find any information on African American employees of Lane. I’m guesstimating he worked there at least in the 40s. Do you know how I can research this?

Answer:

I got this question from a reader some time ago, and offered her some suggestions. Her question was a tough one, so I Googled the word “Lane” and came up with a website for the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond that accumulates business records of Virginia companies. I’m not sure how detailed their records are – especially when it comes to employees – but it’s one place to check.

You should also talk to family members who knew your great uncle and remember him working at Lane. Family members are always a good source – if you can get them open up and talk about the family’s history.

Earlier this year, I was contacted by a reader who has lived in Alta Vista for 12 years and has one of the mini chests.

“I see the old smoke stack from the Lane factory each day,” she wrote. “I wanted to let you know that the majority of people who lived here in the 40′s probably worked at Lane. Mrs. Lane is still alive and still lives in town. The best way to find information on someone who worked here is to plan a visit! We are a little town where everyone knows someone or knows someone who knows them. Our library has lots of historical information, but you get the best from the people who are still alive! Check out our town at http://www.ci.altavista.va.us/home.htm.”

I promised her that I’d visit, and it’s still on my list of places to go.