Bob, I haven't heard our all-powerful list manager's comment on this, but I think the letter from David Millar is entirely appropriate. It clearly states who is and is not authorized to use the Hetchins name without flaming anyone. I should add that neither I nor, per his letter, David Miller, nor I assume yourself, believe that Ron Cooper is involved in any way with these fakes. Cooper, besides his high reputation under his own name, produces the new Bates frames marketed by Ray Etherton, who owns and does honor to the Bates name. It is inconceivable to me that Ron Cooper would for one moment consider being involved in such a fraud.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Ebbikes@aol.com wrote:
> I hope I didn't start something here that some of you disapprove of, with the
> letter from David Miller. A friend of mine had been researching who was the
> "authorized" builder of Hetchins after he came across the ones in a shop near
> S.F. that were said to have been made by Ron Cooper. That part of it is
> certainly second generation hearsay, but I believe the letter from David
> Miller that I passed along to be the genuine article, and likewise the one
> in the recent post from Clive Rodell. I just wanted to pass along some
> esoteric interesting factual information, with no intent to flame anyone.
> Certainly there is no great amount of money to be made in building a fake
> Hetchins, but someone buying a Hetchins would probably like to know who made
> it, since there are obviously several possibilities.
>
> Bob Freeman