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Originally Posted by rednichols
From what's been learnt over the past year about the history of the Brill holster, it would seem then that this particular Brill was made by N.J. Rabensburg for Brill (the rounded corners of the basketweave template). N.J. appears to have been called back to Austin in 1932 perhaps for this express purpose; and he set up shop literally next door to where Brill had been since 1929. N.J. had been mayor of Llano TX for a year and wouldn't have left there on a whim. He spent the rest of his life in Austin, too, whereas he had moved around a LOT prior. The Brills (August and Arno) were building Brillville on Lake Austin to the NW of Austin itself and after WWII intervened it was opened to the public in 1948. N.J. retired in 1955 (began collecting SS and told at least one interviewer in the 1950s that he was retired) and died 1961. So: between 1932 and 1955, whereas I would expect that an EARLY Brill would have more value (so 1912 to 1929) (appear to have the square corners for the basket perimeter) (not decisive) as being made by the Brills themselves. The design did not exist prior to 1907 when N.J. created it with August at W.T. Wroe in Austin for Capt. Hughes. There is a Brill reputed to have belonged to Butch Cassidy but the design did not exist, nor did the A.W. Brill company, during Butch's lifetime (conspiracy theorists aside).
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I am A. Neale Rabensburg, grandson of Newton Joseph Rabensburg. Newton was born in 1889 in Wilson County, Texas and raised in Fayette County, Texas following the 1890 death of his father, Henry B. Rabensburg, a saddler in Wilson and adjacent counties. There is presently an active exhibit on N. J. Rabensburg in La Grange, Texas at the Fayette Heritage Museum and Archives. Mr. Rabensburg was in business in La Grange from 1915 to 1920. His store located on the town square was Zwiener and Rabensburg. He and his family moved to Llano in 1920 where he stayed until the early 1930's. He received an offer from the A. W. Brill Company in Austin and left his position in Llano as Mayor. There is an Austin American newspaper article written in 1959 on his life and leather career. I was there with him on occasions during his retirement. He had a home office located in his garage located at 1903 N. Lamar located on a hill across from Pease Park and Shoal Creek (Austin). I watched him make his holsters and belts. I had one of his holsters and belts as a child. I can identify for the most part his designs. I have much of his home workshop including tools, stitching horse, granite block, a (cc: 1890) Sessions Wall Clock from Parry Buggies, carriage toting box for belts, early photographs including one of his pre-1915 "parade" saddles, 1961 obituary, 1959 PR newspaper article, photos of a Zwiener and Rabensburg restored buggy in the Hidalgo Museum in south Texas, his writing desk and spool draw, early 20th Century wall art painted on leather. I have photographs of him as a young man and in retirement. Newton died of a stroke at the age of 71 or thereabouts He is buried with his wife, Lillian Edna Speckels in Austin. Together, they had three sons and two grandchildren.