New Dukes Stuff - 11/19/2019 - Third Raincoat, Black Guitar, Transfer Paper, Key To Jail

Let's get back to all the new Dukes stuff I recently mentioned.  This is a post full of mostly odd items and it's all pretty rare.  Here we go. 

First up is very strange.  I am not 100% sure what it is, but I think it's transfer paper.

Recently I wrote the big ol' bed sheets and blankets post, and I included this blanket.

These images are used on that blanket so my guess is that piece was used in creation of that blanket.

The paper is very thin, basically tissue paper, and has the images repeating several times.

It reminds me of the transfer roll I got a few years ago.  The images are reversed.  The General Lee is very cartoonish while the image of the Dukes is an actual picture.  It does have Warner Bros. legal information on it as well as 1981.

Looking at the opposite side of it shows the pictures correctly, but much lighter.  I love these weird production materials.

Here's another weird one.  This seems to be copy for a newspaper TV listing.

The two pages feature a few images as well as samples of an episode's tag line.  There are also font samples to be used by an individual newspaper and some different CBS logos thrown in.

I don't know exactly how a newspaper would use these images and text to create an ad for the show, but it's fun to see and I really like the shots of Boss yelling and Cletus getting pinned.  Daisy just looks shocked!

Next up is yet another 12''x 15'' framed picture.  This one features the General Lee flying straight at you.  Look out!  There are several different framed pictures this size.  Some have text and a rebel flag and some don't.  This one says General Lee and has the flag.

The National Picture & Frame Co. sticker is mostly torn off on this one.

It should look something like this.  I paid a good bit more than $3.33 for this picture.

The frame on this picture is different than the other National Picture & Frame Co. pictures I have.  It's thicker and makes the whole package bigger.

The frame could have been replaced at one point, but I can't be certain.  I've never seen this particular image used on these pictures before.  It's fun to be surprised by this stuff.

These are the eight different 12"x 15" pictures I have.  I think there might be a few more out there.  The hunt continues!

I picked up this black Dukes guitar for a pretty good price.  There are two styles of plastic Dukes guitars and each style comes in two colors.  This is the electric style in black.  Both styles feature the same image of our cousins with Daisy holding a guitar.

The black one features a solid white back.  The other style is white on front and black on the back.

Bo looks too angry in this photo.  It was from an early photo shoot before the characters were really hashed out.  Smile Bo!

All four different Dukes guitars are made by Emenee, a subsidiary oh Ohio Art, the creator of the Etch A Sketch.  I now have all four different guitars as well as the super rare John Schneider guitar.  You can read past blogs to see the other ones.

Next is a really weird collectible.  This is a "Key To The City Jail" that was presented to John Schneider by the Sheriff of Nashville in 1981.  Yep, it's weird.  The base is wood and the key is metal.  It's not in perfect condition, but displays very nicely.

The inscription reads "Key to the city jail presented to CBS Records Nashville Scotti Brothers recording artist and 'Dukes of Hazzard' co-star John Schneider. June 30, 1981. Presented by Music City Sheriff Fate Thomas."

Let's dig into this a little bit.  First off, it was presented to Bo on June 30, 1981.  Two days after I was born!  On a hot Tuesday in Nashville, John was honored.  His musical career was as hot as his acting career in 1981.  CBS Records is now Sony Music.  It was known as CBS Records from 1971 to 1991.  Scotti Bros. was a record label distributed by CBS Records.  It existed from 1974 to 1996.  Another Scotti Bros. recording star was none other than "Weird" Al Yankovic.  Scotti Bros. also released the Dukes of Hazzard album in 1981.  Side note, the Dukes album featured the theme song sung by "The Hazzard County Boys" and not Waylon Jennings, because Waylon was signed by RCA Records and wasn't allowed to appear on a Warner/CBS/Scotti Bros. album.  It wasn't until the 2005 re-release that his version appeared on the record.  John's first few albums were released by Scotti Bros. until he moved to MCA records in 1984.  Back to the key.  Nashville is, of course, the center of the music world.  This key was presented to John by Music City Sheriff Fate Thomas.

Oddly enough Sheriff  Fate seemed to share more with Rosco P. Coltrane and Boss Hogg than just a position as sheriff.  The internet tells me that Ol' Fate had quite the career as sheriff of Davidson County.  His step-son wrote a lot about him and his stories are my source of information.  According to his step-son, Fate was best friends with Waylon.  He is pictured above with his son "Punkin" and the General Lee in 1982.  Some people believe the role of Boss Hogg, as well and Smokey and the Bandit's Sheriff Buford T. Justice, were based on Sheriff Fate.  This is the first I've heard about this, but watching a few videos about him, he sure was very Boss Hogg-like.  He loved the Dukes, which is a good reason to honor John with this key.  Searching online, I found out that Fate also honored Elvis, Kenny Rodgers, Sammy Davis Jr., Neil Young and many others with these "keys to the city jail.  That's an impressive list.  Fate passed away in 2000; he was Sheriff for decades and left a huge impact on the city of Nashville.  He sure seemed like he'd fit in nicely in Hazzard County.

So how did this piece of Nashville and Dukes history come to the DukesCollector collection.  I dunno.  It showed up on ebay with an offer option.  I threw out an offer and the seller bit.  The seller said he found it at a flea market in Knoxville over ten years ago.  It's weird how these things get around.  I'm glad it ended up here.  If I ever get in trouble in Nashville, maybe I can use this key to get out of jail.



I found a video of O'l Fate and Waylon doing local commercials for the Dukes in syndication on WTVF in Nashville in 1986.  He definitely had a Boss Hogg vibe going.

Let's take this post home with this great Dukes kids raincoat.  This the last of the three that I've been chasing for a long time.  I finally got them all.  They're all pretty rare, but I'd say this "blue sleeve strips" version is the rarest of the three.  The strips on the sleeves are the most obvious difference from the other ones.

The back features a large image of the Dukes with the Gen'ral jumping over them.  

Besides the incorrect shirt colors, the image is very nice.  Them Dukes are having a good old time.

The image on the front is a very familiar one.  It's used on many different golden age items such as blankets, the pool, and other fun stuff.

Swellwear is the company behind the raincoats.  This particular one is a size 8.  It's 100% vinyl.

It's been six years since I got my first raincoat, and now I have all three.  The first raincoat, on the left, is on the super rare side, but of the three it's the most common.  It has a lighter blue interior than this most recent one. The red interior version is also super rare.  All three have the same images on them, just different interiors, and the sleeves are different on this newest one.  They were all made in 1981.

The two blue ones use very different color blues.  My new one is basically navy while the first one I found is much lighter blue.

I wonder why Swellwear made three different versions.  Maybe they were each made at different manufacturing locations, or produced at different times.  Who knows with items like this.  I'm just glad I finally got them all.

The strips on the sleeves are the most obvious difference, but the pockets are also different.  My new one has blue pocket holes, while the other blue one and the red one have their interior color stitching lining the pockets.

In 2013, I was incredibly excited to land one of these super rare pieces.  Now I have all three.  The collection has grown so much since I started blogging about it and sharing it with the world.  It's just so much more fun sharing this stuff with everyone.  I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am.