Here's why there's all the fuss. George Herter ran a huge sporting goods store and catalog from the 50's to the 70's (ballpark) in Waseca Minnesota. He bought the rights to the Hudson Bay Company (I think). He published a huge yearly catalog full of absolutely every kind of sporting goods and anything else he could get his hands on. His listings were hyperbolic and over-the-top. Everything he sold was the "Model Perfection International" this or that. Nearly all of it carried his own brand name. And his models were indeed rather different than everything out there. It's like he designed his own stuff for every aspect of outdoor sport. And it was generally far cheaper than anything else. Which is why I leaned so hard on it.



Herter's really thrived back when guns could be ordered thru the mail. After the ban on mail-order guns, Herter's started to decline but fought on gamely and really didn't miss a step for many years. Herter had a full line of his own firearms, but I don't know how he sold them after the mail-ban as they weren't available at retail outlets. And I've never seen them reviewed and only very rarely on the vintage market. Yet I did hear they were considered to be pretty good. They are, in a word and in every sense, a curiosity. Many Herter's products were. (And I believe it's proven that the mail-ban on gun buying had zero affect on gun crime––-I think it's likely that the mail-ban simply hurt businesses. Pity.)



Herter's catalogs were a yearly cherished item for many. I was one. I pored over every page.



Herter also sold silk and gems and cured salmon and maple syrup.



He designed his own archery bows and line of furbearer traps. ––-I used a lot of his products. I couldn't afford others. I was a gung-ho outdoorsman and went thru a lot of equipment. I needed affordable stuff. Herter's filled the bill. For a whole segment of American society, I imagine.



I'm guessing that Herter's was the main catalog for "Fur-Fish-Game" readers. Those periodicals went together in a way. Practical and thrifty and real.



Herter wrote at least a dozen books. He had them mostly printed in shiny-gold hardcover. And he sold them only thru his catalogs.