F. Burgess & Co.

[Niederlander]

Hello!
    I'm just curious, does anyone know whatever happened to F.Burgess & Co.?  They used to make really good Indian Wars stuff.

[Drydock]

They went out of buisness 6 or 7 years ago, why I don't know, probably just oversaturation of that market. 

[Major 2]

When Frank Burgess ran it , he & all of his leather was top notch .
He carried quality and his friendliness and response to orders was second to none.
I spent a goodly amount with him through out the 1980's & early 90's

He had Family in Germany, and would travel there from time to time. I'm guessing it was about 1993-4 he sold the Business
to retire and spend more time traveling. At least that's the time frame I recall ,and what he told me back then.


The new owner, at first kept up , but his manor was not the same, business began to suffer.
It was tough to get him to answer the phone , to order.

By that time, Doug Kidd, David Carrico were well known with really good horse equipment.

F. Burgess & Co.  just seemed to ceased to be.

I lost touch with Frank after he sold out, I heard sometime ago he had gone over  

[liten]

the burgess hats are sought after ,they fetch big bucks on ebay

[Niederlander]

Yes, I have one of the black felt hats, and it's a nice piece of work.

[Major 2]

I had one of his Hardee hats, I bought in 84, over the years I shaped it to a Slouch and added an officers guilted cord
and no Brass devices.
26 years of Sun & age bleached it form Black to faded bluish gray black...it looked great !
IT still held it's shape just fine...
I wore it to the NCOWS Convention, there I had bought a new 5XXXXX hat.
I had the old one on Doc Bobs table, Jim Reed "Texas Lawdog"  bought it and so it has a new home 

[FTrooper]

Hank Kluin bought the company from Burgess.  Hank did well for awhile, but apparently there were some health issues he kept to himself, in the end it and the business started to take a toll on him. He closed up business, but by that time his kidneys were pretty much shot.  Hank died soon afterwards in 2009, leaving a huge gap in IWP material.

Chris Fischer
F-Troop

[Niederlander]

I thought I'd heard that maybe he'd died.  Thanks for the info.

[histcloth]

Hank Kluin died from complications related to diabetes. It was horrible. It started off with blindness, then amputations.

He was in a critical care facility, and two weeks before he died, his mother collapsed while visiting him. She suffered a brain hemorrhage, and died one week before he did.

Hank really tried to transform the business into a much higher level of detail.

[Major 2]

I was distressed to hear this, I had lost touch with him.
Most all of my business in 12-14 years was with Frank, and only with Mr. Klun a couple of times.
I had no idea of his illness. 

May he Rest in Peace

[Blair]

I too am sad to hear this.
I had dealt with Frank Burgess for a number of years through the N-SSA.
Kluin was Frank's son-in-law and also did very fine work after his father-in-law, Frank had passed away.
Blair

[Trailrider]

Dang! Sorry to hear it.