Description

Dear Friends and Loyal Patrons,…….We were recently notified by several of our loyal and highly valued patrons of the pirated use of some of our proprietary labels. Investigation revealed that three examples of our SoFS labels; inner and outer labels for the Richard’s Patent Silverware and the outer label for our Semmon’s Map Reader, were in use by an individual claiming the title of “sutler”, clearly placed on items or packages he had made for sale (which would not have passed our standards tests), photographed and then featured on his online marketing venue. ………..As stated on our website and in all of our literature, we have spent some 40 years acquiring, examining, studying and researching the material culture of the Civil War era. We have spent considerable time and treasure on the development of high quality period packaging and labeling for your enjoyment. Ever present then, but all but missing in the marketing of reproductions today, packaging and labeling has become a recognized hallmark of the Sutler of Fort Scott for some two decades. (in fact, we have been both humbled and honored by long time leaders in the hobby proclaiming us as being pioneers in the practice) To restrict the venue of Living History to those minority of known original labels extant, when compared to the vast industry of the time would present a very narrow and inaccurate view of the material culture of the day, indeed. (labels and most packages then were consumable throw aways, we have endeavored to price ours in a manner that allows the contemporary consumer to engage the same natural and historically accurate practice – make a period trash dump, use it as a fire starter or appropriately re-purpose it, but most prefer our Gayetty’s paper to other possible applications!) All of the labels we have developed that are not exact copies of known originals in the public domain, are proprietary. They represent and contain countless hours of meticulous historical research, developed personal design, artwork, fonts, graphics, manufacturer and patent research, period correct addresses, agents, texts, advertisments, etc. We are happy and humbled to report that our labels have been recognized by museums and history experts across the country as accurate and detailed representatives of the trade as it was presented during the period. This is work anyone posessing the ethic and integrity can do, and WE WOULD SUPPORT the work as a contribution to the community. Many tools are available for the development of period labels and many, many manufacturers, agents and sellers with their own labels, and brands are as yet unrepresented should one want to do the honorable thing as opposed to running a chop shop……….Primarily, but not solely, as we have also stated on our website and in our literature, we have relied upon the common decency, honesty and integrity of our patrons to preserve and defend our efforts for the mutual benefit of our Living History community. On several occasions over the years, persons evidently lacking the pre-requisite character for such an appeal to resonate with effect, have endeavored to lazily and unethically profit from our are hard fought results, and we have had to take whatever further steps were necessary to defend our livlihood. In other cases, the use of our labels was based upon simple ignorance of the issues, and were resolved with mature and gracious response upon receiving the information…….. Despite many, many requests over the years, being unable to insure the quality of the packaging or the contents they might be placed on, we have declined to sell our labels themsleves for our mutual protection. (although we have on occasion sold complete but empty packages with our labels, such as reproductions of our collection of original tobacco packages, allowing our customers to fill them as desired)……..We also do not sell our products at wholesale rates or quantity discounts, although we have had many requests, in order to preserve the rights of our customers to purchase our goods at affordable prices and protect the thin margins we and our artisans often work within. We have on a very, very few occasions authorized persons to sell our items outside of our shop or tent on commission, as representative agents of the Sutler of Fort Scott……..Recently it was again brought to our attention that another individual on the same marketing venue was possibly also copying our products, etc. A review revealed that the product line did all but mirror our products and that several of our product brand names were being used and several of our unique packaging materials and techniques were also copied, however none of our actual labels were in use. Clearly, again our reproduction goods were purchased under false pretense in order to copy them……….Photographic examination of both vendor’s wares seems to suggest they may produce some quality and worthwhile products, although closer scrutiny may be warranted given the current circumstance…………We have always celebrated and supported the efforts of any and all who are willing to do the work to produce quality goods for the Living History Community and we recognize honest competition as as something that benefits us all in the end result. We have chosen carefully that which we make and market in order to provide either a unique opportunity or value to our customers and at the same time respect the efforts of others contributions to the community. Uniforms and some other mass produced items necessitate that near duplicate items will be marketed and honest vendors must compete for customers. This is especially true when demand for items that were uniformly specified and singularly popular during the war. However, we, and most of our friends who are producers take the time, expend the EFFORT and EXPENSE, to examine ORIGINAL examples to reproduce quality for you, even if it is the same item someone else makes. While it is a free country and anyone can make a knock off of any non-patented item if they wish, simply copying someone elses personal reproduction product, knowing the overall effort behind it’s production, would be considered less than ethical and honorable by all decent purveyors I know, and as a threat to the further development and success of such artisans should not be tolerated by the serious minded Living History community. There are plenty of designs and individual aspects in the vast array of material culture, even within a single industry or product of the Civil War era, that can be incorporated by a maker in order to personalize it to their production and still accurately portray an item valuable to the Living History consumer………Finally, we would invite all of our brothers and sisters in the Living History Community to be vigilant in such matters, and act accordng to the Golden Rule on behalf of all honest vendors, as this has the potential to effect all of us in the negative. For our part, any person who reports to us any non-authorized person re-selling our goods, any person representing that the goods they are selling are ours but not, or utilizing our proprietary labels on products not produced by us, and that information is confirmed, will receive a gift certificate for $25 redeemable with the Sutler of Fort Scott toward the purchase of any of our items. Authorized agents will heretofore receive issued paper proof of their status upon their request…….Please accept our very best regards, Steve and Laura Dunfee