I’d like to inform you of a current situation dealing with Colbar Art. As you know, the Statue of Liberty means a great deal to us at Colbar Art. For many people of the United States, the Statue of Liberty is a cliche, just another tourist spot in New York City. However, for most immigrants, the first sight of the statute of liberty brings tears along with hopes for a new life.
As you may know, the founder of Colbar Arts, Ovidiu Colea, immigrated to the U.S. many years ago after a horrible past that included five long years in a Romanian hard-labor camp for trying to flee the communist regime. When he finally escaped, he came to America and worked as a cab driver for about two years. He finally saved enough money to start Colbar Art, a company based out of Long Island, New York that produces up to 80,000 hand crafted replicas of the Statue of Liberty a year.
He now helps other immigrants get a start in their new country by hiring them to design and produce Liberty models. To produce these Liberty models, Colea must pay a royalty to the Liberty Foundation. During his first year of operation, that royalty amounted to $250,000. Though this may seem to be a vast amount of money, Colea continues to produce his Liberty replicas because of the meaning behind them.
The very immigrants that Lady Liberty welcomes to New York are the ones that labor to produce the acrylic and bonded marble statues with a hand-painted patina. Colea insists on keeping all production in the U.S. even though it would cost him a very low price if it were done over seas. His reasoning is simple; Colea refuses to produce the statues in countries “where there is no liberty or Statue of Liberty.” By keeping the jobs in the United States, he believes he is doing his share of keeping the American dream alive.
However, the detailed labor also costs precious production time. Because of the recent high demand for the replicas, our company has fallen behind on orders. To increase the production to 120,000 statues per year, our company is leasing more space and training new employees. For the time being, the production deficits may continue for several months. We have already begun taking steps to fix this dilemma and we ask that you be patient while we strive to accommodate your requests for the Liberty replicas.
Just to give you an idea, the owner of the Liberty Island gift shop stated that the Colbar Art’s models represent 65 percent of his sales. Because his sales are highly reliable on our Liberty replicas, we ask you to please be patient with us. Also, I hope you consider the cause behind Colea’s production of the Liberty replicas, and understand that it is hard to preserve a company that is truly for a good cause especially with all of the pressures in today’s world. This truly is for a good cause and we hope you will continue supporting us in our efforts of keeping the American dream a reality. Once again, I apologize for the delay and hope that you will patiently wait for the Liberty replica’s arrival.
