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FAX:  (207)782-7448

Visit Our Store in Lewiston, Maine

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At BRETTUNS VILLAGE TRUNK SHOP, we buy, sell, and refinish trunks, chests, toy boxes, wood boxes, and tool boxes for antique dealers, interior decorators, college kids, doll collectors, tool collectors, museum curators, and regular folks.  We've been at it here in Maine since 1988, and have shipped trunks to all 50 states and several locations outside of the United States.  We also refinish trunks for our customers.   Take a look around our web site for some basic information on our trunks, helpful tips for do-it-yourselfers, some interesting links to other trunk sites, and a few plugs for visiting Maine - and not just in the summer either.  Those two weeks go by too quickly anyway.

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Don't Forget to Sign up For Our Trunk Nuts Newsletter!
Register for BrettunsVillage.Com email updates
by clicking here

Summer or Winter - Maine's Beautiful All Year!


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FOR SALE!  List of antique trunks currently available - updated whenever something new comes in or whenever one of our lucky antique trunks is sold.  We cry when they leave.
Feel a little better after your payment clear s, though.


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SUITCASES! See our listing of vintage suitcases for sale.  Some are wonderful, some are garbage, they're all for sale!

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ANTIQUE TRUNK PARTS!  If you're in the middle of refinishing an old trunk there's two things you need.  One is a psychological evaluation - the full-blown type with wires stuck to your head and the works.  The second thing you need would be parts for your trunk.  Here at Brettun's Village we make and sell many of the parts you'll need.  We also sell many original vintage parts - what we call 'new old stock' or original old parts that have never been used.  Incredible!  OK, not really.


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TOOLS JUST RIGHT FOR BEATING YOUR TRUNK INTO SHAPE!  We offer some of the weird little tools you need to do the job correctly.
Don't try to fake your way through using that fancy multi-bladed can opener you got for Christmas.


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REDOING YOUR OWN ANTIQUE TRUNK!  Tips on what to do, how to get parts, basic first-aid, removing odors, swearing under your breath, and pictures of trunk types.
Quick help for the do-it-yourselfers out there. 

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BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES!  A small collection of before and after shots of some of the most recent antique trunks we've run through the shop.
These pictures will give you an idea of how trunks look after we beat them around, and maybe give you some ideas for your own project.


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LINKS FOR TRUNK NUTS!  Click here to see a few selected links designed to meet the needs of the trunk enthusiast, whatever that is.  Add your site!

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TRUNK MAKERS' HISTORY!   Visit this page to learn a little about some of the old trunk makers.  This section grows a little every month as we add new pictures and information.


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CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS on old trunks, you can even buy your own copies of the darned things.  Fascinating coffee table books!  Oh sure.  Get a life.  Read these books first, though.

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CHECK OUT OUR CUSTOMERS' GALLERY   Take a look at some of the projects our customers have completed.
Heck, they aren't all customers, but they're sort of attached by way of our newsletter.

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Give a BrettunsVillage.Com Gift Certificate!!

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Our Guarantee:  Our guarantee is simple – If you’re not happy with your purchase for any reason or no reason just ship it right back for a refund or exchange.  That’s it.

Returns and Exchanges:  At Brettuns Village, we guarantee your satisfaction.  If you're not happy with anything in your order, please send it back within 30 days for a refund or an exchange.
You don't need to contact us first if you don't want to - just send it and include a note with your name, order date, and payment method, and we'll issue a refund or send out replacement merchandise promptly.
The only catches are that we don't reimburse you for return shipping (unless we really blew it) and we'd like to get things back in pretty much the same condition they were in when we sent them your way.
Please try not to beat the living daylights out of the stuff if you can help it.

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SIGN UP FOR THE TRUNK NUTS NEWSLETTER!
Our e-mail newsletter comes out about once a month.  You'll learn about trunks, a little about Maine, hear ridiculous stories from the North Maine Woods, and get early notice about the trunks that come into  the shop.  You get the jump on the rest of all humanity just by signing up.

Signing up is wicked easy -

Register for BrettunsVillage.Com email updates
by clicking here

You can read some of our old newsletters by clicking here.

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Come on in and find a trunk you like!
Shown below are a few different types of trunks and boxes, just to give you an idea of what passes through the shop.

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Just your standard wooden trunks, ca. 1850 to 1880.  Some similar styles were made like this until as recently as 1940.  Utilitarian, handsome, what more do you want?  Wicked cheap, too.  Originally these were covered with green or black canvas.  Not very unusual, so don't expect to pay an arm and a leg for this style.  These turn out to be beautiful and are quite useful for storage.

Here's what we recommend to finish the inside.  Remove the old wallpaper and sand/stain the wood, like the trunks shown above.  If you have bugs in your area, plain wood is better than fabric or wallpaper (the little bugs will move in between the trunk and the fabric/paper).  We fix up and sell a lot of trunks like this, redone inside and out, as shown here.  USA Shipping is included in all of our prices.
Check the FOR SALE section for info.  While you're in the shop be sure to think of your loved ones and how much they'd love to get a trunk from our shop.  Or, think about our loved ones and how much they'd like a lobster dinner paid for by you...

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Maybe you'd prefer an old pressed-tin covered trunk.  Not much wood showing, so this type sells a little more slowly than some, even though they're quite striking once they've been redone.  Some were painted, like the one above, others were glazed.  Often the glaze didn't last very long.  Sort of like the shop owner's hair.

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Leather-covered trunks were all the rage in the early 1800s.  Well-known trunk makers from that time include Robert Burr of Boston (maker of the saddle trunk shown on the left), the Saratoga-style trunk makers (center photo), and the stretched-hide and brass tack style (on the right) made by several companies all around the US.  You may find one of these with the leather in rough shape, or the leather may be gone altogether.  You can still have a great trunk for display by finishing the wood beneath, and polishing up all of those little brass tacks.  If the leather is in fair to good condition it can be oiled and saved, probably for another 200 years or so.  Then again, if your kids are like ours, you might get another four to six months out of it, but it'll be a fun time.

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Old Toolboxes

Toolboxes are lots of fun.  You'll never see two of these alike.  Each was typically hand-crafted by the owner, and it was sized to meet that person's unique tool needs.  Look for wide pine boards, special compartments to hold certain tools, and maybe some dents from shins banging into it.  Husbands love these old toolboxes, but none of them can really explain why.  I've got a few of them that I've kept for myself, and I couldn't tell you why I hang on to them, or what, if anything, I'll ever put into them.  I just like em.

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 You really should be in Maine, so if you're wise enough to visit, you might want to check the Maine Office of Tourism's site and also the  State-o-Maine's pages for touristing goodies.
Hope to see you upcountry!
Churchill Barton, Proprietor

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lmoore.mse@gmail.com