Help me find McBrine.

[Texaco Bag Guy]

Hello,

I am looking for any contact information regarding McBrine Luggage Company or Cheney England (lock company), and any information regarding the history of my Texaco luggage briefcase.

I recovered this from a family friend, who herself bought it from a yard sale. I have found no history or record of a bag exactly like this, and the companies involved appear completely uncontactable (save for Texaco, but I think one of the world’s largest oil companies doesn’t have time for an antique bag).

In response to this, I have compiled a list of differences using Etsy photos of a similar model, and have also provided reference photos of the bag itself.

Given that this bag appears to be the only one of it’s type, any history even tangentially related is appreciated. I am not looking to sell, but to archive the history of this bag for the sake of preservation.

If any of you find it at all useful, there was a piece of fabric with what is likely a serial number sewn inside the bag. The number is 6670/04. There may have been more after the 4, but the tag appears to have been torn off.

Thank you all!

 

[lkranieri]

I think what you have is a personalized corporate gift, most likely for an employee of the corporation (Texaco, I assume). Perhaps it was personalized for an officer upon his or her promotion or for many years of service. I thought it might also be a retirement gift, but giving a retiree a briefcase does not seem too practical. I believe the "different branding" you noted are the giftee's initials.

 

[lkranieri]

After my prior reply, I read your query to my husband and showed him your photos. He immediately agreed that the briefcase was most likely given to an executive/employee of Texaco. He added that when he joined JP Morgan in 1976 they sent him to the Crouch & Fitzgerald luggage store in NYC, where they had a credit of $600 for him so he could get a briefcase. Crouch & Fitzgerald added his initials to the briefcase.

 

[The Vintage Vendeuse]

I agree with Lynne.
The bag belonged to a Texaco employee with the initials T.N.J.
McBrine, the maker of the bag, appears to be a Canadian company.
I was able to find this:
McBrine Luggage, L. McBrine Company Limited ,Louis McBrine born Feb. 26, 1866
Nationality Canadian Manufacturer
Occupation Manufacturer of valises, luggage and trunks
Notes Louis McBrine was a "valise manufacturer" circa 1901. Circa 1911 he was involved in manufacturing trunks. He and his partner, W. G. Cleghorn, founded McBrine Luggage, which from 1905 until into the 1960s was one of the world's largest luggage manufacturing businesses.

The company was still making briefcases circa 1965.
Places of residence Berlin, Ontario (Kitchener, Ont.)

 

[lkranieri]

... and to add to Donna's helpful information about McBrine, I found this Apr 2000 blurb in the Kitchener Waterloo Record:

"Q. In the late 1970s, my father-in-law found an old trunk by a dumpster in Los Angeles. We use it for a coffee table. Inside, it's marked McBrine Baggage, Kitchener. Can you tell me something about the company?

A. You'll Always Be Glad You Chose McBrine Baggage, L. McBrine Co. Ltd. bragged from one of the walls of its enormous plant at Charles, Joseph and Water streets in Kitchener.

The company grew from being a two-man outfit in 1894 -- co- founders Louis McBrine and William Cleghorn filled orders working, by lantern light, well into the night -- to become one of Canada's leading luggage makers. Changing tastes and heavy debt shut the old factory down in 1970.

They made barrel trunks, steamer trunks, suitcases, briefcases and other types of bags. In the first half of the McBrine's history, leather, canvas and hardwood were the materials of choice. In the second half, the era of planes and automobiles, the company switched to lightweight plastics and plywoods.

War placed different demands on Kitchener's factories. L.McBrine was not an exception.

In the First World War, the company made cavalry equipment for the French and Russian armies. In the Second World War, McBrine employees stitched canvas into machete sheaths and folding bathtubs. They also made trunks for the Canadian army's dental corps.

Credit: Kitchener Waterloo Record"

 

[Jonathan]