{"product_id":"hartmann-three-piece-graduated-luggage-set-signature-tweed-with-belting-leather-trim-brass-combination-locks-and-engraved-owners-plates-c-1970-1985","title":"Hartmann Three-Piece Graduated Luggage Set, Signature Tweed with Belting Leather Trim, Brass Combination Locks and Engraved Owner's Plates, c. 1970–1985","description":"  \u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree hard-sided cases in graduated sizes, built to nest and travel together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe covering is \u003cstrong\u003eHartmann's signature tweed\u003c\/strong\u003e — a dense woven cloth in tobacco brown shot with cream, so tightly woven that it reads almost as a texture rather than a pattern. It is bound at every edge in \u003cstrong\u003ebelting leather\u003c\/strong\u003e: wide russet straps running the length of each lid, dark brown piped trim around every corner and seam, and heavy stitching visible throughout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach case carries a \u003cstrong\u003ering-and-bracket leather handle\u003c\/strong\u003e, the grip wrapped and the rings hand-stitched, set beside a \u003cstrong\u003ebrass three-dial combination lock\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo of the three also carry a \u003cstrong\u003esmall engraved brass identification plate\u003c\/strong\u003e mounted beside the lock, cut with a former owner's name and a \u003cstrong\u003eCarson City, Nevada\u003c\/strong\u003e address.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn one case a \u003cstrong\u003epaper airline security inspection sticker\u003c\/strong\u003e survives on the side belting, with a checker's handwritten marks still on it. One case retains an added black webbing shoulder strap with a swivel snap.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHartmann is one of the genuinely old American luggage houses.\u003c\/strong\u003e It was founded in \u003cstrong\u003e1877 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin\u003c\/strong\u003e by \u003cstrong\u003eJoseph S. Hartmann\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Bavarian trunkmaker, and it built trunks and travel goods through the last quarter of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cstrong\u003e1956\u003c\/strong\u003e the company opened a plant in \u003cstrong\u003eLebanon, Tennessee\u003c\/strong\u003e, and moved its headquarters and manufacturing there by \u003cstrong\u003e1959\u003c\/strong\u003e. That is where American Hartmann was made for the next half-century. Brown-Forman bought the company in \u003cstrong\u003e1983\u003c\/strong\u003e; Samsonite bought it in \u003cstrong\u003e2012\u003c\/strong\u003e for thirty-five million dollars, and the Lebanon factory closed that December. Production had already begun moving offshore from 2007.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTweed is the collection the name is built on\u003c\/strong\u003e — it and the Wings collection are the two Hartmann lines most associated with traditional American style, and Tweed ran long enough to be rebranded as \u003cem\u003eTweed Legend\u003c\/em\u003e in 2018. The construction is the argument: woven cloth over a rigid shell takes a knock without denting the way moulded plastic does, and belting leather — the same heavy vegetable-tanned hide used for industrial drive belts — goes on every edge and corner precisely because those are the parts that get destroyed first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe dating comes off the hardware and what is missing from it.\u003c\/strong\u003e These are hard-sided cases with \u003cstrong\u003ebrass three-dial combination locks\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eno wheels and no telescoping handle\u003c\/strong\u003e — they are built to be carried, or handed to a porter. Wheeled upright luggage did not take over until the late 1980s. Combination locks of this pattern, ring-and-bracket leather handles, and engraved brass owner's plates put the set in the decades before that: \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1970–1985\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe owner's plates are the provenance, and they are worth having.\u003c\/strong\u003e Engraved brass identification plates were a service offered on good luggage, cut to order with the traveller's name and home address so that a bag separated from its owner at a hotel or an airport could be returned. Two of these three carry one, both engraved to the same person at a \u003cstrong\u003eCarson City, Nevada\u003c\/strong\u003e address — which puts this set's whole working life within an hour of where it is now offered. The former owner's name and street address are not reproduced here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the security sticker is not decoration either. A paper inspection tag, initialled by hand, means somebody opened these cases on a departure floor and signed for it. This set flew.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eThree-piece graduated hard-sided luggage set\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaker\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eHartmann — founded 1877, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; manufacturing at Lebanon, Tennessee from 1956. Embossed \u003cem\u003eHartmann Luggage\u003c\/em\u003e to the side belting.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eHartmann signature tweed in tobacco and cream over a rigid shell, bound throughout in russet and dark brown belting leather with heavy visible stitching\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eFittings\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eRing-and-bracket wrapped leather handles, brass three-dial combination locks, brass hardware. No wheels and no telescoping handle — these are carried.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaker's name embossed to the leather. Two cases carry engraved brass owner's identification plates cut with a name and a Carson City, Nevada address; one case retains a paper airline security inspection sticker with handwritten checker's marks.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1970–1985. Dated on the combination locks, the ring-and-bracket handles and the absence of wheels or a telescoping handle, which arrived on upright luggage in the later 1980s.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eExcellent for age and fully serviceable. All three cases are rigid and square with no crushing, splitting or delamination; every corner and edge binding is intact and firmly stitched with no loose or broken thread; all three handles are sound and safe to carry by; all three combination locks are present and operate. The tweed is clean, unfaded and complete throughout with no tears, holes or bald patches. \u003cstrong\u003eExpect honest travel wear to the leather\u003c\/strong\u003e — scuffing, scratching and surface marking along the lid straps and corner bindings where the cases were handled and stacked, along with light darkening to the handles and minor tarnish to the brass. One case has an added webbing shoulder strap. No repairs, no replaced parts and no odour. \u003cstrong\u003eCombinations are not known and the locks are not supplied set to a code.\u003c\/strong\u003e Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA graduated set of three is more useful sitting still than most furniture is.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStacked largest to smallest in a corner, at the foot of a bed, beside a wardrobe or under a console, they make a column with real presence — and every one of them opens. That is closed storage for out-of-season clothes, spare bedding, holiday decorations, photographs, paperwork, or anything else that has nowhere to live. The tweed and leather look intentional in a way plastic bins never will.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo stacked make an end table beside a chair, at the right height for a lamp and a book. One alone works at the end of a hall for gloves, dog leads and post.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey also still travel. Hard-sided cases protect what is inside far better than soft bags, they stack properly in a car boot, and they are the right size for a train, a road trip or a long weekend where nobody is dragging anything through an airport.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the details reward attention: the wrapped ring handles, the brass dials, the engraved plate, the security sticker somebody stuck on at a departure gate. Very few objects tell you this plainly that they were used and cared for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care, and with tweed-over-shell luggage the rule is dry. \u003cstrong\u003eDo not soak these and do not put them away damp.\u003c\/strong\u003e Water gets through the cloth into the shell and the board beneath, where it swells, lifts the covering and will eventually smell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVacuum the tweed with a brush attachment; spot clean a mark with a barely damp cloth and dry it at once. Feed the leather once or twice a year with a neutral conditioner worked in thinly and wiped off, keeping it off the tweed, and use no silicone spray or shoe polish, which builds a film and stains woven cloth permanently.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStore them somewhere dry rather than a basement or an unheated garage, latched but not locked, with a cedar block or a silica pack inside and the lids very slightly ajar if the room is humid. Lift by the handle, not by the lid edge.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48042206560361,"sku":"VE-0711","price":795.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/IMG_2101.jpg?v=1789141676","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/hartmann-three-piece-graduated-luggage-set-signature-tweed-with-belting-leather-trim-brass-combination-locks-and-engraved-owners-plates-c-1970-1985","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}