Before I could sell anything online, I sold my products through
The Regimental Quartermaster in Gettysburg. In fact, I still do sell at the "Regimental QM", as I call it. I sell my caps on consignment there. Consignment selling has its advantages. I still retain control of the inventory, but someone else displays, promotes and markets it. And the Regt QM has done an outstanding, lights-out job of selling FCR's hats and books. These guys are killing it on a daily basis in there.
But, as I learned last week, consignment selling also has its drawbacks. One of them is shelf wear on the product. This is not the fault of the vendors...they're trying to sell product, and part of selling product is people handling product. And believe me--I want people to handle my caps. They need to feel the quality of the wool, or see the little details and imperfections resulting from hand-assembly that mimic those found on originals.
But a fact of consignment life is the shelf wear. So, one of my caps, that had been at the Regt QM for a while and that I recovered for my online sales, is currently being refurbished and touched up in my shop. Because it now qualifies as a second, it will be sold from the FCR website at a discount.
This is a great opportunity to purchase a high-quality, authentic reproduction forage cap at a rock-bottom price! Don't miss it!
The chin-strap and visor needed to be re-painted--but your messmates will never know.
