Brettuns Village Trunks & Leather
Old Trunks, New Leather. All from Maine.
October 19, 1999
Well, October is
half way gone, and your trunk refinishing project is
way behind schedule for
Christmas, isn’t it? Don’t worry, your cousin
Sylvia can wait another
year to get her trunk from you. Relax, have
some fresh cider, and get
a good fire going in the woodstove.Still warm in your neck of
the woods? Well, summer came to a close up
here rather abruptly once
again this year. We’re back to scraping frost
off the buggy seat every
morning, and we’re in the peak of our fall
foliage season. This
means the leaf gawkers are clogging roads all over
Maine. If you’re up
this way be sure to keep one eye on the road – if
you forget to pay attention
you’ll be sporting a new hood ornament
before you know it.
He’ll be mad, too.News from the trunk shop
– we have a roller-ball trunk up for grabs on
the For Sale page – these
were made by several shops in the Milwaukee
and Detroit areas around
1880-1900. The roller ball trunks have these
wicked looking rollers on
each corner, top and bottom, to fend off dents
and dings from other folks’
trunks. Sort of like those sharp blade
thingees that spun a competitor’s
wheels to sawdust in the old chariot
races. These roller
ball trunks had only one thing in common – each had
the trademark rollers from
the US Roller Co on them. A label on the
bottom usually identifies
only the maker of the fender balls themselves,
not the rest of the trunk.
The label has a graphic picture of several
broken trunks on the dock,
while the roller ball model sits there,
shining in its glory.
The picture was considered racy in some areas,
because it actually showed
a woman’s corset spilled out on the dock
(from the trunk, not from
the owner). That’s why these labels only
appeared on the bottom of
the trunk. That’s some trunk trivia for you.We’ve had several customers
take us up on our offer to help them
evaluate trunks for sale
on EBay and other online auction sites. We’re
glad to help. If you
haven’t heard of this service, it really is
simple. If you see
a trunk you like somewhere on the web, send us a
link to it and ask our opinion.
We try to be fair and on the level.
We’ll tell you what we think
the trunk is worth and what questions to
ask. Sort of like
consultants, but without the frequent flier miles,
exorbitant fees, or hideous
ties. (OK, I do have a hideous tie, but
Amanda won’t tell me which
one it is, just that one of my ties is
hideous. My hands
shake when I pick one out for the occasional power
meeting I might attend with
the local Ducks Unlimited chapter or
whatever.)We’re producing our own line
of replacement trunk handles, which may be
of interest to you refinishers
out there. I hope to have them on the
site by the end of the month
(I’m not saying which month). I’ve become
somewhat dissatisfied with
the quality of replacement handles currently
available out there, so
I figured we should just make our own. Heck,
we’re in Maine, home of
some of the country’s most talented leather
workers. We’ve found
a plant that will make them to our specifications,
and we’ll be able to sell
them for less than they cost elsewhere. Our
goal is to provide near
exact replicas of the originals, made of several
layers of leather, stitched
and glued, and dyed to meet the big three
color choices (black, brown,
maroon). We might even have some fancy
models, with embossed flowers.
I’ll keep you posted on our progress.It’s hunting season now,
and the birds are flying. Rif Shaper and Norm
Broussard, a couple of trunk
nuts if ever there were any, were upcountry
trying to find a partridge
or two. They camped up by Cliff Lake and
were all settled in for
the night when a big bear showed up in the
campsite. Norm started
lacing up his shoes, and Rif hollers, “Norm, you
derned fool, you know you
can’t outrun a bear!”
Norm, very calmly, turns
to Rif and says, “Well………See, Rif, the
way I figures it, I only
have to outrun you.” Keep that in mind when
you’re choosing your camping
partners this Fall.We made it up to Baxter State
Park in early October, a truly spectacular
place. Baxter Peak,
on Mount Katahdin, marks the northern terminus (I
didn’t even know I knew
that word) of the Appalachian Trail. There was
snow up top, which we were
satisfied seeing from the campsite down
bottom. The girls
aren’t quite up to that climb yet, (ages 5 and 7),
but in another year or two
they should be able to carry me up. Make a
point to visit Baxter someday.
There are roughly 140,000 acres of old
wilderness, one dirt road
(single lane), no electricity, lost of ponds,
lakes, and streams, and
plenty of Maine wildlife. On your way up there,
be sure to stop in the shop
to get a few trunks for your porters to lug
up the mountain.We currently have 24 trunks
in the shop, most of which we haven’t
touched yet. We’ve
been busy refinishing trunks for customers
(including Marcie in NYC
who sent us 14 to refinish – bless your heart,
Marcie) and running the
leather business. That part of the barn has
seen some wild activity
in September and October. We’re not sure why,
but it’s been a hoot, to
say the least.So get your fire roaring,
grab some good old cider (not that pasteurized
garbage), put on your wool
socks, and read “Tender is the Night” once
more to warm your innards.
Always warm here, so stop in when you can.Til next time-
—
Churchill and Amanda Barton
Brettuns Village