Letter from Stuart & Smith to Otard Dupuy & Co concerning Liverpool brandy sales, bills and suspected imitation stock, 1836-06-06
Stuart & Smith discuss an invoice and sale of 20 hogsheads of Otard Dupuy brandy, Liverpool prices, a distressed debtor and outstanding drafts, then report suspicions that cheaper or second-quality spirit was being sold under reputable brands. An enclosed account records the sale proceeds and charges.
Commercial correspondence
English
Stuart & Smith
Otard Dupuy & Co
Liverpool, England
Cognac, Charente, France
Liverpool–Cognac
Cognac trade
Brandy sales
Account sales
Hogsheads
Bills of exchange
Brand imitation
Brandy prices
Liverpool
Otard Dupuy
Britain
Liverpool 6 June 1836
[[label: Address panel]] Messrs Otard Dupuy & Co Cognac France [[notes]] Editorial notes: Address and historical trade-house wording were checked against the authoritative address-panel image and are preserved as one entity.
[[label: Letter text - page 1]] Liverpool 6 June 1836 Gentlemen We had this pleasure on the 21st Ultimo and have now to hand your esteemed favor of the 28th do enclosing Invoice of 20 Hhds Brandy pr Le Persone from Charente which we are pleased to learn is of the same quality as the last parcel, and we have no doubt that on arrival it will give satisfaction. We have some Hhds of it still on hand for which we ask 8/6 pr Gallon, & if they can be replaced at 5/6 pr Gallon from Charente = they can be laid in here for about 7/pr Gall. & probably in a month or two hence the market will be such as to admit of them at a price that you can make them of the quality we wish. Mr Logan called on us yesterday in great distress, having received a very decided negative in the case of your bill upon him & it seems is calculated to throw him in the Insolvent Court. He has no doubt written to his firms to make it good, and as it was privately of his own, it will be settled without reference to us. On the 28th Ult we wrote to you respecting the draft of £102.17 that had been passed into the hands of Mr Seager from Mr Lees on the 11th May last say 150 francs @ 22d which crediting your acct leaves a balance against us in favor of your brand new draft which is @ 5/6 pr Gall for Lucas's Hhd 1834 Vintage, which rather surprised us, not feeling at liberty ourselves to sell under 6/6 for that Vintage. We were the more surprised as they could offer them so low, after they had incurred the heavy
[[label: Letter text - page 2]] London charges, with freight and Landing Expenses to this port. This puts us on our guard, but not to suspect that a second quality of Brandy had been put into Casks bearing your and other respectable brands. Consequently we wrote to Mr Davis to know whether it was possible to be true in London. To this enquiry we have not yet had a direct reply, but this morning Mr Seager called on us, and says that he is not for a moment to suppose they are to be guilty of such a practice. He said he called to let us know that they have Mr Foster & Co for their London House, and that they often draw upon them, & probably drew in this way to save the expense of remittance; feeling it to be our duty if anything improper had taken place to endeavor to put a stop to it & as we have since had them on so large a scale of your Brandy which in this town has lasted a few days, & they had sold about 100 Hhds of it, we had every reason to suspect that an imitation or a second class Brandy at the same price would be disposed of. Their so called Brandy is pitted directly against us, & while they can sell at 5/6 pr Gall, we must get 6/6 to save us. We had last week had an order for 10 Hhds but they had still a good portion of their last Import on hand. We remain Gentlemen Your most obedt Servants Stuart & Smith We have drawn upon you for £172.10/. We enclose you Account Sales which we trust will be satisfactory. We have again sold 1 Hhd which we must try to hold over till next week. We have not yet heard from Mr Davis, which we should do in a day or two, and we will write you again on the subject. * P.S.
[[label: Enclosed account statement and freight charges]] Account Sales of 20 Hogsheads Brandy received pr the Sloop Le Persone from Charente on acct & risk of Messrs Otard Dupuy & Co Cognac Thos Banks 20 Hhds May 1 equal 4 Mos TB 1. 27.7 | 1. 28.5 2. 27.7 | 2. 28.5 3. 28.0 | 3. 28.5 4. 27.5 | 4. 27.5 5. 27.5 | 5. 27.5 6. 27.5 | 6. 27.5 20 Hhds 138.2 Gallons w/g 212.5.0 Charges Freight on 5 Ins & Wharfage &c 126 12 7 6 Sample Bottles 13 4 Insurance on £210 @ 10/6 & 20/2 Duty 4/- 2 11 - Commission Affecting £212.5 @ 2 1/2 % 5 6 3 21 8 1 Nett proceeds £190 16 11 Errors Excepted Liverpool 6 June 1836 Stuart & Smith [left margin annotation] Insurance 1/6 - 42.00 5113.97 Commisn 1/16 2/3 x 212.5 4428.97 Duty 171.10
[[label: Letter text - page 1]] Liverpool 6 June 1836 Gentlemen We had this pleasure on the 21st of last month and have now to hand your esteemed favor of the 28th ditto enclosing Invoice of 20 Hogsheads Brandy per Le Persone from Charente which we are pleased to learn is of the same quality as the last parcel, and we have no doubt that on arrival it will give satisfaction. We have some Hogsheads of it still on hand for which we ask 8/6 per Gallon, & if they can be replaced at 5/6 per Gallon from Charente = they can be laid in here for about 7/- per Gallon. & probably in a month or two hence the market will be such as to admit of them at a price that you can make them of the quality we wish. Mr Logan called on us yesterday in great distress, having received a very decided negative in the case of your bill upon him & it seems is calculated to throw him in the Insolvent Court. He has no doubt written to his firms to make it good, and as it was privately of his own, it will be settled without reference to us. On the 28th of last month we wrote to you respecting the draft of £102.17 that had been passed into the hands of Mr Seager from Mr Lees on the 11th May last say 150 francs @ 22d which crediting your account leaves a balance against us in favor of your brand new draft which is @ 5/6 per Gallon for Lucas's Hogshead 1834 Vintage, which rather surprised us, not feeling at liberty ourselves to sell under 6/6 for that Vintage. We were the more surprised as they could offer them so low, after they had incurred the heavy
[[label: Letter text - page 2]] London charges, with freight and Landing Expenses to this port. This puts us on our guard, but not to suspect that a second quality of Brandy had been put into Casks bearing your and other respectable brands. Consequently we wrote to Mr Davis to know whether it was possible to be true in London. To this enquiry we have not yet had a direct reply, but this morning Mr Seager called on us, and says that he is not for a moment to suppose they are to be guilty of such a practice. He said he called to let us know that they have Mr Foster & Co for their London House, and that they often draw upon them, & probably drew in this way to save the expense of remittance; feeling it to be our duty if anything improper had taken place to endeavor to put a stop to it & as we have since had them on so large a scale of your Brandy which in this town has lasted a few days, & they had sold about 100 Hogsheads of it, we had every reason to suspect that an imitation or a second class Brandy at the same price would be disposed of. Their so called Brandy is pitted directly against us, & while they can sell at 5/6 per Gallon, we must get 6/6 to save us. We had last week had an order for 10 Hogsheads but they had still a good portion of their last Import on hand. We remain Gentlemen Your most obedient Servants Stuart & Smith We have drawn upon you for £172.10/. We enclose you Account Sales which we trust will be satisfactory. We have again sold 1 Hogshead which we must try to hold over till next week. We have not yet heard from Mr Davis, which we should do in a day or two, and we will write you again on the subject. * P.S.
[[label: Enclosed account statement and freight charges]] Account Sales of 20 Hogsheads Brandy received per the Sloop Le Persone from Charente on account & risk of Messrs Otard Dupuy & Co Cognac Thos Banks 20 Hogsheads May 1 equal 4 Months TB 1. 27.7 | 1. 28.5 2. 27.7 | 2. 28.5 3. 28.0 | 3. 28.5 4. 27.5 | 4. 27.5 5. 27.5 | 5. 27.5 6. 27.5 | 6. 27.5 20 Hogsheads 138.2 Gallons w/g 212.5.0 Charges Freight on 5 Ins & Wharfage &c 126 12 7 6 Sample Bottles 13 4 Insurance on £210 @ 10/6 & 20/2 Duty 4/- 2 11 - Commission Affecting £212.5 @ 2 1/2 % 5 6 3 21 8 1 Net proceeds £190 16 11 Errors Excepted Liverpool 6 June 1836 Stuart & Smith [left margin annotation] Insurance 1/6 - 42.00 5113.97 Commission 1/16 2/3 x 212.5 4428.97 Duty 171.10
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Every complete capture, documentary role, address panel, date, names, commercial evidence and postal evidence was directly checked against the authoritative images; unresolved readings remain explicitly marked. Date evidence: The dateline reads Liverpool 6 June 1836. Origin evidence: Liverpool is written in the dateline.
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4 documentary sides: Address panel and postal evidence; Letter text - page 1; Letter text - page 2; Enclosed account statement and freight charges; 4 digital images.