This isn't a question. I just wanted to let eveyone know that Freestyle Sales (http://www.freestylesalesco.com/index.html) has Oriental Seagull in stock. I found this tidbit while looking up and answer in another thread. If Freestyle has this wonderful paper some other companies should have it soon too. This is good news for all us old printers who have been pining for Seagull the past few years.

-- Darron Spohn (sspohn@concentric.net), December 10, 1998

Answers

I thought that Cachet had taken over manufacturing of Oriental Seagull paper a couple of years ago. When I first ordered it, I received a box of Oriental Seagull paper with a Cachet label on it. Later, Cachet was shipped in its own label. I assumed that this was because the Seagull leftover stock had been depleted. I soon found out that this paper is not the same! I was led to believe by the distributor that only the name is changed. But Cachet has weak blacks and I'm only using it for proofing until I run out.

-- Dave Gordon (Dave08@aol.com), January 01, 1999.

Thought you and others would be interested in the correspondence that I have had with Freestyle Sales Co. regarding the Seagull Oriental Paper. The person that I have been dealing with is Cheryl Ann Bartelt at "Freestyle Customer Service"

Our latest e-mail is as follows:

Dianne - here are the answers to the questions that you requested, along with portions of your original message so that my answers are easily understood.

-----Original Message----- From: Dianne Horvath [mailto:dijames@idirect.com] Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 1999 6:44 PM To: Cheryl Bartelt Subject: Seagull Paper

I have some other questions regarding the Oriental paper.

1/ Is Freestyle the manufacturer of the paper?

**No, we are not the manufacturer.

2/ If not the manufacturer, then who is and is it the original formula, or merely a similar product?

**The manufacturer is Oriental Photo Industrial Co, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. They have a web site at http://www.orientalphoto.co.jp It is mostly in Japanese. Their Head Office address is 1-14-11, Kanda Nishikicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

All of the paper is produced with the same formula, on the same machines, in the same factory as the originals. It is not a copy, it is not another product with the Oriental name on it, it is not new or different. It is not similar, it is exactly the same as original Oriental, because it is original Oriental.

There are some people which believe that your Seagull Oriental Paper is not the real thing and believe that it might actually be a poor rendition of the real Seagull paper.

**There are many rumors about what happened to the original Oriental. "They sold the company to new owners"; "they sold the Oriental name"; etc. None of them are true. The company is the same, the ownership is the same, and the products are the same. The truth of what happened to Oriental for a time (while it was unavailable) is that they were under bankruptcy, and were prohibited from exporting their products from Japan. This issue is now resolved, and the products are once again available. As I said above, the Oriental that we are selling is not a copy, or another product with the name Oriental on it, or new paper also called Oriental, or anything else. It is not "similar" to Oriental, or an "imitation" of Oriental. It is the original Oriental paper, exactly the was it was before. I cannot stress this enough.

3/ Does Freestyle have any connections with Calumet?

**Freestyle has absolutely no connection whatsoever with Calumet, which is another photographic supply company. At first, I wasn't sure what the relevance of this question was in regard to Oriental paper, but then I realized that you are probably referring to Cachet, a company that was a distributor for Oriental USA, and sold what could be referred to as "imitation Oriental" paper. Aside from the fact that Freestyle carried the Cachet products (under the Cachet name, not under Oriental) we also have no connection with the manufacturing process of Cachet.

Please convince me and others that you are selling the real thing.

**I hope that the information that I have provided you above is convincing enough.

For Freestyle to be selling something other than Oriental under the name "Oriental" and claiming that it is the original product would be nothing short of illegal and fraudulent. Before we began advertising the paper, our darkroom technician, Richard Risemberg, tested the products and found them to be exactly the same as the originals. Richard's expertise/knowledge/experience in the darkroom is without question, and he assures me that he is personally satisfied with the product itself, irregardless of all the facts I have already stated.

If you have any further questions, please let me know.

Cheryl Ann Bartelt Customer Service Manager ******************************************** <<<>>>

5124 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Local Phone 323/660-3460 Local Fax 323/660-4885

Toll Free Phone 800/292-6137 Toll Free Fax 800/616-3686

E-Mail Orders emailorder@freestylesalesco.com

E-Mail Customer Service foto@freestylesalesco.com

-- Dianne Horvath (dijames@idirect.com), January 26, 1999.