History of Jamestowne Fine Products
Jamestowne Fine Products was started because I believe that Jamestowne Furniture Polish is the best furniture polish I have ever used.
I was introduced to Jamestowne Furniture Polish over 15 years ago, when I was looking to "fix up" my Grandfather's coffee table. Grandpop has covered the coffee table in a heavy dark mahogany finish, that had turned black with age. I removed the thick old finish, and to my wonder, there was a beautiful red mahogany coffee table. Now what to do?
A dear friend of mine who is a lover of antiques said, "Jamestowne Polish is the only product I will use on my antique furniture. You need to get some and use it on your coffee table." So, I did. And I have been using nothing else on my furniture ever since.
Last Spring (yes, it was that Spring Cleaning time again), I was getting low on my Jamestowne Furniture Polish. I looked around for more, and could not find any. I searched online, and found Ken Gore.
Over 40 years ago, Ken and his wife were looking for a furniture polish for their antique furniture. Ken was a distributor to Grocery Stores and Supermarkets up and down the East Coast, and he could not find any product that was good enough for their antiques. During a golf game, Ken was discussing this problem with his friend Beryl, a chemist. Beryl said, I can make a quality polish for you. And so, Kenneth B. Gore, Beryl H. Muchnick, and Alva P. Weaver III started the Baltimore - Jamestowne Wax Co. on April 29th, 1967.
Ken started selling Jamestowne Fine Furniture Polish to his East Coast accounts. Ken saw there was a need for more quality products for the home, and shortly after, the Baltimore - Jamestowne Wax Co. developed the Jamestowne Fine Silver Polish.
Other products soon followed, and the company grew.
Decades went by, and both Beryl and Alva passed on. The business also changed. Grocery stores were now demanding "slotting fees" for the products on their shelves. The "slotting fees" kept getting higher and higher, making the sale of Jamestowne products unprofitable. Ken focused on selling Jamestowne products to other types of stores, like markets and Hardware stores.
When I called Ken in the Spring of 2008, he was now semi-retired. He said he was phasing out the Jamestowne line of products. When he sold out of product, he was going to close down the company.
My heart lept into my throat. What was I going to do? How could I calculate a lifetime supply of Jamestowne Furniture Polish? Then my business partner turned to me and said, why don't we buy the company? I called Ken and asked if the company is for sale, he said yes, so we bought the company, and the Baltimore - Jamestowne Wax Co. became Jamestowne Fine Products.
The Jamestowne Fine Furniture Polish was the first in a line of many wonderful products that Ken and his partners developed. We are carrying on their tradition of quality, and will continue to introduce products that Ken had developed, in addition to offering new quality products for your home.
We are very excited to add to the Jamestowne line our two high quality microfiber items: a dusting mitt that combines ease of dusting (who likes to dust?, and isn't a cloth sometimes awkward to use?) with the dust trapping power of micro fiber, and a very special micro fiber LCD cloth that is designed to work on optical instruments and is ideal to use when dusting those very sensitive computer screens, LCD screens, and TV screens.
We are committed to offering you quality products for you home, as much as we respect the quality and care that Ken and his partners put into the company. We appreciate your business and value your support. If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know. Thank you.