To the Members of the Cody Firearms Museum and our other customers:If you have not already received it, you should be seeing a copy of the new semi-annual Cody Firearms Museum newsletter, The Cody Firearms Record. Using this new publication, we will try to keep you up to date with the goings on here in Cody and try to spread the word of any news that needs to be passed along.
One piece of news that may or may not be taken happily by our customers is in a box on the front page of the newsletter.
As of January 1, 2008, we are raising the prices of our factory letters. In most cases, this is only a $5 price increase. However, in the case of the Winchester Model 21 and the LC Smith Shotgun, the increase will be $20.
The increased prices (seen below) came about as the result of an ongoing conversation regarding our pricing practices, the needs of the institution and the needs of our members. The current pricing, which has stayed in place since 2000, has been a bargain when compared to other factory letter resources. The new price schedule is still a bargain and we feel we are doing what we can to maintain the high quality of our service. The difference regarding the pricing of the Model 21 and LC Smith shotguns is the result of the greatly increased time required to properly interpret the records and produce factory letters.
Some collectors will not support the increase in prices. Others have asked why we have not increased our fees and a few collectors have told me on several occasions that the fees should go up. I have attempted to resist the increase of these fees in the past. However, I now see it as necessary, while attempting to limit the impact to our customers.
Given that we are increasing the fees, we will allow current members of the Cody Firearms Museum to purchase up to 20 factory letters at the current prices (as letter packs or individual letters) before December 20, 2007. These letters will be credited to your account and may be used in the future, so long as you maintain your membership with the Cody Firearms Museum.
Price List effective January 1, 2008
Basic letter request (Most Winchesters, Marlin) - $60 ($35 member)
Winchester Model 21 and LC Smith shotguns - $75 ($50 member)
Winchester Model 21 with build sheet data - $100 ($75 member)
5-Letter pack (Basic Letter) - $150 ($30 per letter)
10-Letter pack (Basic Letter) - $250 ($25 per letter)
Additional research - $50/hour (one hour minimum)
If you have any questions or complaints, please feel free to contact me by phone (307-578-4117) or email (davidk@bbhc.org).
Sincerely,
(s)
David Kennedy
Curator, Cody Firearms Museum
Oh, and yes, we realize we misspelled Firearms…