From 1974 until 2004, Bill Vernon Studios produced a wide variety of collectible figurines, gifts, and home decor products. The most popular of these collectibles were The Shade Tree Cowboys and The Series of Evolution.
Our collectibles were all MADE IN THE USA. We started out in Gainesville, Florida, and then we moved to Franklin, North Carolina.
On May 29, 1998, Bill Vernon Studios in Franklin was destroyed by a fire.
So many sculptures, the molds, and almost all records were lost.
We did rebuild, but on a much smaller scale.
The fire led to an unplanned mass retirement of ALL Cowboys, with the exception of seven styles that went into "Second Edition" status. These seven first edition styles were slightly modified and were reintroduced as "Limited Editions", limited to a maximum production of 3,500 pieces. The new Limited Edition numbers were 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, and 607.
We did the best we could to reconstruct the information and historical data on all our sculptures for the benefit of our many collectors.
Many photos had to be scanned in from recovered records. We apologize for some of the lesser quality photos.