It's sitting in a storage unit, or wedged under the guest bed, or stacked in a corner of the attic with someone's initials stenciled on the side. You've been meaning to deal with it for years. Before you haul it to the thrift store, take a closer look at the hardware. The maker's name stamped into the brass lock could be the difference between a $40 donation and a four-figure sale.
Vintage luggage has a genuinely serious collector market, and it runs wider than most people realize. Louis Vuitton gets all the attention, but Goyard, Moynat, Hartmann, and even certain American makers have dedicated buyers willing to pay real money for the right piece in the right condition.
What separates a meaningful find from a storage problem comes down to four things: who made it, what era it's from, whether the hardware and interior are original, and how the exterior has held up. The last one matters most.
Fakes are a real problem at the top of this market, particularly for French luxury trunks. Before you buy or sell anything significant, authenticate through a specialist. For Louis Vuitton specifically, date codes on the interior leather tab tell you when and where a piece was made, and every piece of brass hardware should be stamped with the brand name.
For Goyard, the Goyardine canvas has a specific layered texture with oval-tipped chevron points that fakes consistently get wrong. Assembly fakes, where genuine hardware is attached to new reproduction canvas, are common on trunks and are harder to spot than outright counterfeits.
Table of contents
- Louis Vuitton monogram wardrobe trunk (malle armoire), circa 1900 to 1930
- Louis Vuitton Alzer 80 monogram canvas hard suitcase, 1970s to 1990s
- Louis Vuitton Damier canvas courier trunk, circa 1888 to 1910
- Goyard antique steamer trunk, monogram Goyardine canvas, circa 1890 to 1930
- Moynat steamer trunk, circa 1890 to 1935
- Goyard Saint Louis tote, pre-2000 hand-painted canvas
- Hartmann belting leather pullman suitcase, pre-1980
- Hartmann tweed and belting leather garment bag, 1940s to 1960s
- Zero Halliburton aluminum attaché case, original “double-rib” design, 1960s to 1980s
- Samsonite Streamlite marble or color suitcase, 1940s to early 1950s
- Louis Vuitton Keepall 50 monogram canvas travel bag, 1970s to 1980s
- Moynat motoring trunk, circa 1902 to 1935
Louis Vuitton monogram wardrobe trunk (malle armoire), circa 1900 to 1930
The wardrobe trunk is the piece that defines the Louis Vuitton collector market. Upright, hinged down the center, and opening to reveal a full hanging rail on one side and a set of drawers on the other, these were built for passengers on ocean liners who needed a functioning wardrobe at sea.
They are extraordinary objects, and collectors treat them accordingly. Clean, complete examples with original interior fittings, original hangers, working locks, and matching keys typically bring $15,000 to $30,000 on the current market, with exceptional or provenance-linked examples going considerably higher.
Completeness is everything. A wardrobe trunk stripped of its drawers, hangers, or interior curtain loses a significant portion of its value. The hardware tier matters too: the most desirable examples have all-brass fittings with leather borders rather than steel hardware and black metal bindings, which were the lower-production grades. Any sign of canvas repainting or replacement is a serious problem.
Louis Vuitton Alzer 80 monogram canvas hard suitcase, 1970s to 1990s
The Alzer is Louis Vuitton's hard-sided suitcase line, and the 80 is the largest standard size, measuring about 31 inches wide. These were produced continuously across several decades, which means plenty exist, but clean examples with original interior trays, working locks, matching keys, and undamaged monogram canvas are harder to find than the raw number suggests.
Well-preserved examples in good condition typically bring $2,500 to $5,000, with exceptional condition and complete original fittings pushing toward the higher end.
The interior tray is the most commonly missing component. Without it, value drops noticeably. The interior label with serial number should be intact, and the lock number on the body should correspond to the keys. Canvas condition matters enormously: scuffing at the corners and edges is expected on a used piece, but deep gouges, torn lozine trim, or areas where the canvas has lifted from the wooden frame all reduce value.
Louis Vuitton Damier canvas courier trunk, circa 1888 to 1910
The Damier checkerboard pattern predates the famous monogram by eight years. Georges Vuitton introduced it in 1888, and early courier trunks covered in this canvas are among the most sought-after pieces in the entire vintage luggage market.
Clean, original-condition examples with brass hardware and leather borders regularly bring $8,000 to $20,000, with particularly rare early formats going higher at specialist auction.
The Damier pattern on pre-1914 trunks has subtle differences from later production, including the placement and style of the “Marque L. Vuitton Deposse” text woven into the design at slight angles. These details are well documented and worth understanding before buying. Ownership provenance adds meaningfully to value when it can be documented.
Goyard antique steamer trunk, monogram Goyardine canvas, circa 1890 to 1930
Goyard was founded in 1853, one year before Louis Vuitton, and the two houses have competed directly for over 170 years. Antique Goyard steamer trunks in the house's signature Goyardine chevron canvas are significantly rarer on the open market than equivalent Vuitton pieces, partly because Goyard has always produced in smaller quantities and partly because the brand spent much of the 20th century in near-dormancy before its revival in 1998.
Clean antique Goyard steamer trunks with original brass locks stamped “Goyard,” leather handles, and original interior typically bring $3,000 to $8,000 depending on size, completeness, and condition, with particularly rare forms going higher.
The Goyardine canvas was hand-painted until the early 2000s. On pieces made before mechanized printing, the chevron pattern has a slightly irregular, layered quality you can see under magnification. Fakes print the pattern flat onto the fabric surface, which looks two-dimensional compared to the real thing. Any Goyard trunk should carry the brass house plaques on the exterior, the original interior label, and ideally a serial number.
Moynat steamer trunk, circa 1890 to 1935
Moynat is the third of the great Parisian trunk houses, alongside Vuitton and Goyard. The company was founded in 1849 and is perhaps most famous for its curved “limousine” trunk, designed in 1902 specifically to fit into the rounded boot of early automobiles.
Because Moynat went dormant for decades before being revived in 2011, its antique pieces are genuinely scarce and less well understood by the general market than equivalent Vuitton pieces, which historically kept prices lower. That's been changing fast as collectors catch on. A clean Moynat steamer trunk with original canvas, stamped brass locks, original Moynat plaques on the exterior, and a legible interior label typically brings $1,500 to $4,000 depending on size and condition.
The interior label with the maker's name and the stamped brass flanges on the handles are the primary authenticity markers. The original Moynat brass plaque depicting a train, automobile, and ocean liner on the trunk exterior is a distinctive identifier on pieces from the travel golden age.
Goyard Saint Louis tote, pre-2000 hand-painted canvas
The Goyard Saint Louis tote is one of the few contemporary luxury bags that has built a genuine collector market for its older versions, specifically the pre-2000 examples made when the Goyardine was still hand-painted by artisans rather than mechanically screen-printed.
A pre-2000 Saint Louis GM in good condition with the original detachable pochette, minimal handle wear, and clean canvas brings $1,800 to $3,500 depending on color, with rare colors like yellow, orange, and sky blue commanding more than the standard black or navy.
Goyard sells almost exclusively through its own boutiques, has no e-commerce presence, and makes no announcements about production volumes. The deliberate scarcity is built into the brand. Authentication is a serious concern here because the tote's clean geometry and simple construction make it one of the most imitated bags on earth.
The serial number, heat-stamped on the interior of the pochette on older models, should be three letters followed by six digits in a discreet sans-serif font.
Hartmann belting leather pullman suitcase, pre-1980
Hartmann has been making luggage in Milwaukee since 1877, and the belting leather line, with its distinctive golden-brown full-grain cowhide and burnished brass hardware, is what serious collectors want. The belting leather was used for both hard and soft construction, and the hard-sided pullman suitcase in the larger sizes is the most desirable form.
A clean pre-1980 belting leather pullman in good condition with working combination lock and undamaged leather typically brings $200 to $450 in the current market, with matched sets of two or three pieces in excellent condition bringing more.
Hartmann is more accessible than the French luxury houses, which is part of its appeal as an entry point into serious vintage luggage collecting. The belting leather does age beautifully if it's been conditioned over the years. Leather that has been allowed to dry out and crack at the corners is worth considerably less than a well-maintained example, and cracked leather cannot be fully restored without it being obvious.
Hartmann tweed and belting leather garment bag, 1940s to 1960s
Early Hartmann garment bags, made from a sturdy herringbone or wool-blend tweed with belting leather trim and solid brass hardware, are the pieces most likely to surface at estate sales and be genuinely underpriced. They were built to last and many of them did.
A clean 1940s or 1950s Hartmann tweed garment bag with original hardware, working zipper, and intact lining typically brings $300 to $600 for a well-preserved example. The rarest pre-war pieces with the oldest Hartmann markings command more from dedicated collectors.
The interior lining condition matters as much as the exterior. A garment bag with a torn, stained, or disintegrated lining is worth a fraction of one in clean condition, because the interior is the whole point. Check the zipper carefully, since replacement is possible but obvious and reduces value. The Hartmann name should appear on the hardware and on an interior label.
Zero Halliburton aluminum attaché case, original “double-rib” design, 1960s to 1980s
Zero Halliburton has been making aluminum cases since 1938, and the company built its reputation on pieces so rugged they were used to transport Olympic medals and NASA equipment. The original double-rib design, with its distinctive parallel ridges running across the brushed aluminum shell, is the collector's piece.
A clean 1960s or 1970s double-rib attaché in working condition with functional latches, original combination dials, and undamaged aluminum typically brings $150 to $350 depending on size and condition.
These cases attract a different buyer than the luxury European market: designers, architects, photographers, and people who use them as working equipment. That practical demand keeps prices stable. The aluminum should be brushed, not polished or painted, and any case that has been repainted or had its surface treated is worth less than original.
Dents are inevitable on aluminum and are acceptable; deep gouges that compromise the seal are not. The combination dials should still cycle smoothly. Interior foam or divider trays that have been cut or modified reduce value to collectors but don't necessarily bother the buyers who want to use the case. The larger suitcase formats from the same era, built for film and equipment transport, are scarcer and bring more.
Samsonite Streamlite marble or color suitcase, 1940s to early 1950s
The Streamlite was Samsonite's flagship design when Jesse Shwayder trademarked the Samsonite name in 1941, made from vulcanized fiber over a hardwood frame and covered in a distinctive marble-finish or solid-color exterior. These are not collector pieces in the same tier as the French luxury houses, but they have a dedicated following among mid-century design enthusiasts and prop stylists, and certain colors and patterns command real money.
A clean Streamlite in the marble finish from the 1940s or early 1950s, with working latches, undamaged exterior, and clean interior, typically brings $100 to $250, with unusual colors like Hawaiian Blue, coral, or saddle tan pushing toward the top of that range.
The key variable is color. Standard brown and gray Streamlites are everywhere and worth much less. The unusual colors were produced in smaller quantities, and the marble texture makes condition more legible than a solid finish, meaning a scratched marble-finish case is immediately obvious at a distance.
Louis Vuitton Keepall 50 monogram canvas travel bag, 1970s to 1980s
The Keepall is a simpler proposition than the trunks: a soft-sided travel bag in monogram canvas, introduced in 1930 and produced continuously since. The most collectible versions are the earlier production pieces, particularly 1970s and 1980s examples where the vachetta leather trim has developed a deep, even honey-to-tobacco patina consistent with age.
A clean Keepall 50 from this era with dark even patina on all leather trim, intact canvas, working zipper, and original padlock and key typically brings $600 to $1,200 in the current market.
The vachetta leather patina is the primary dating and condition indicator. Genuine aged vachetta darkens evenly across all exposed trim. Replacement trim stays pale, making any repairs immediately obvious to a knowledgeable buyer. The canvas should have a uniform hand-painted quality, not a flat printed appearance, and the LV monogram alignment should be consistent and centered. The padlock should be original, with a number on the base that corresponds to the keys.
A matching padlock and two original keys adds meaningfully to value. The Keepall 55 and 45 exist in similar price ranges; the 50 is simply the most common size. Any Keepall with spray-painted canvas, repaired leather, or a mismatched padlock is worth considerably less than the prices above.
Moynat motoring trunk, circa 1902 to 1935
Moynat's motoring trunk is the most unusual and immediately identifiable piece the house made: a flat-topped trunk with a curved base, designed specifically to follow the contour of an early automobile's boot, with brass rings on the lid for strapping to the car's luggage rack.
It is one of the clearest examples of luggage designed around a specific technology, and it is extraordinarily distinctive as a display object. Clean examples with original canvas, stamped brass locks, original Moynat plaques, and working hardware typically bring $1,800 to $4,500 depending on size and condition, with exceptional examples pushing higher.
The curved base is the defining feature and also the primary condition concern: the wood that creates the curve can warp or split, particularly along the bottom seam, and any structural failure here is expensive to address properly. The brass rings on the lid should be present and functional.
Travel labels applied during the trunk's working life add personality and, to most buyers, value, while custom painted stripes or owner monograms are neutral, neither adding nor subtracting significantly. As Moynat has grown in awareness following its 2011 revival, prices for antique pieces have moved noticeably upward, and the motoring trunk in particular is increasingly recognized as one of the most design-significant pieces the house produced.
