Old Trunks, New Leather. All from Maine.
July 16, 2000
Brettuns Village Trunk Shop - http://www.brettunsvillage.com/trunks
Don't go and have a hairy cow - I know, I know - two newsletters from
Brettuns Village in less than six months, it's got to be a new record
or
something. Alert the media.
I just remembered a couple more things that I had wanted to mention
last
time around. That's all, no big deal - if our letters are too
much for
you to digest then just go ahead and hit that delete button up there;
we'll never know you did it. The again, you'll never know just
what these
important items were that I had forgotten last time around.
So now that I've got you on the edge of your seat, take another look
at
our For Sale page, we added a couple more trunks in the last few days,
and
we have two more that'll show up on the page on Tuesday. If the
camera
works, anyway.
Next - we get a lot of questions from folks who've been beating their
trunk around the garage in an effort to feel that they're spending
their
time in a useful and productive way (trust me, we gave that fantasy
up
years ago); they generally ask the same sorts of questions, falling
into 3
standard categories:
1) The "Can I Retire Yet?" Category
These questions go like this: "I went to a yard sale today and
found this
really, really cool antique trunk, it has drawers in it, and some old
hangers, and I've never seen anything like this before in my life and
I
think it must be very rare and worth a lot. How much is
it worth (to the
penny)?"
2) The "Have You Ever Heard of Such a Thing? If you Have, I Want
Some
Documentation to Prove it" Category
"When Grandma kicked over she left us 12 shares of AT&T, a Ford
Tractor,
and an old trunk that has leather handles on each end. The outside
of it
looks like it's covered with some sort of material, almost like canvas,
but I know that sounds crazy. Have you ever heard of such a thing?
Oh,
and if you have, how much is it worth (to the penny)? One more
thing - do
you have any books about these old trunks that I can buy or borrow?"
3) "I'm Hard At it on a Trunk Project, but I Need Some Help" Category
" Thanks for sending those Brettuns Village trunk handles so fast
(shameless plug alert), can you tell me how to get the old nails out
and
where you got those nifty tools you show on your website? The
handles are
the last thing left to do in my project to redo the old trunk I found
at a
flea market in the next town over. Remember? I wrote you
about it last
September - it was painted red and had a lid that opened. Remember?
Hey,
by the way, how much is this trunk worth anyway (to the penny)?"
You get the basic idea. We tell everybody the same thing about trunk
value
- it's worth a lot if you plan to keep it, not so much if you plan
to sell
it, but it's priceless if it belonged to one of your ancestors.
The third category involves tools - and we found out that we could become
an Amazon Affiliate and offer the proper tools right through the site.
So
we did. We now have a page where you can look at some trunk-working
tools
and order your own. While you're at it, you can also order from
Amazon's
exhaustive library on old trunks and suitcases - that's right, that
one
book by Schiffer is on there. There's also a set of woodworking
plans for
those who want to build their own trunk from scratch, and even an old
Sears catalog that has quite a few pages showing old trunks and bags
from
1910. Just click your way through from our site to Amazon's ordering
page
and buy like you would anyway. We get a cut on the deal, so we
can get
these girls properly educated at Bates College in the future.
If you
don't order anything that's OK too, we'll just homeschool the girls
and
then have them spend their days sanding the inside of trunks, just
like
dear old Dad. Their hair will fall out, just like mine did, but
don't let
that keep you up at night.
Another thing - we now offer trunk nails (soft steel) in two lengths
-
longer ones are great for attaching handles or other parts through
thicker
boards, or where you just need more holding power. They're over
there on
our Parts page. Holler if you need a link.
On an interesting note - we sold a pile of trunks to a custom woodworker
who is using them to build a kiosk in some desert-themed shopping mall
out
in Viva Las Vegas. You know what a kiosk is, one of those stores
that
sits in the middle of the mall just so you can squeeze by it while
some
overweight gal with a tattoo on her forehead can ram her baby carriage
into your knees. This particular kiosk will look like a pile
of trunks
sitting at a desert train station - and I must say I'm just wild about
the
idea, and I hope they decide to build these at the thousands of malls
that
exist in all those places where a whole lot of folks cram together
in a
town, just to be close to one another, apparently. Anyway, if
you get out
to Vegas, be sure to look for our trunks when you get rammed by Madame
Tattoo.
So check the site in a day or two, we've got a great old Civil War trunk
that's a nice size and has a perfectly flat top just right for a coffee
table, and another standard box trunk that's been completely redone
just
in time for summer. Which is over now, by the way.
Thanks, sorry to bug you so much here lately. We'll go back into
hibernation shortly, so don't worry.
Best Regards;
Churchill Barton
Brettuns Village Trunk Shop
Auburn, Maine