I just picked this up off ebay thinking it would look nice with an old SAA (which is the gun it was advertised for). The SAA did not fit, but a 38/44 outdoorsman fit perfectly (imagine my luck!). The marking on the back of the holster have been rubbed off, but the holster has the Heiser snap button and the tab is marked "VL & A Chicago". Belt is also marked "Heiser Denver". Any info. on VL&A company much appreciated.

Larry:
Nice rig. The initials stand for Von Lengerke and Antoine which was a store similar to the old Abercrombie and Fitch. In fact, I believe one of them bought the other one out after the war. Heiser made leather goods for both of them.

Ed

Nice setup, Larry.

VL&A was in downtown Chicago. It was bought out by Abercrombie & Fitch when it was still a big time high end sporting goods store. In the mid-sixties, when A&F was in business, the entry to the store had the VL&A logo in tile.

Both A&F and Marshall Field's in downtown Chicago had gun rooms in the old days that would bring tears to our eyes. I remember seeing a couple of Winchester 21's on the used gun rack out on the floor; the really good stuff was behind the counter.

One of our forum brother's father was a buyer for the gun department at MF, as was John T. Amber of Gun Digest fame.

Larry:

Very good luck indeed !

How about another photo or two with that Outdoorsman beside the holster so we can admire both !

Jerry

Nice set-up Larry, congrats on the holster.

VL&A were quite a large S&W distributor I believe. I've had several guns letter there over the years.

quote:

Originally posted by victorylarry:

quote:

Originally posted by GLL:
Larry:

Very good luck indeed !

How about another photo or two with that Outdoorsman beside the holster so we can admire both !

Jerry

Jerry,
You have seen this one before. It's been reblued but has a nice humpback hammer and a set of Keith Brown Magnas. A perfect holster gun...

You still have the best Outdoorsman Heiser holster & belt rig I've seen !

Very nice outfit,Larry.

Here's the page on V,L & A from Gene Bender's book "Luger Holsters & Accessories of the 20th Century".
Gene's been working on a book on Heiser-almost ready,I hope.
Regards,
turnerriver
SWCA 1426,NRA Endowment Life member


VON LENGERKE & ANTOINE CHICAGO
UNITED STATES
VON LENGERKE & ANTOINE
In 1891, Oswald Von Lengerke and Charles Antoine, boyhood friends from West Hackensack, New Jersey, came to Chicago, Illinois, to open a retail sporting goods store.
With $1500 in capital, the two young men rented space in Bosler's Harness Shop at 246 South Wabash Avenue. With a stock of just guns, ammunition and fishing tackle, they did a landoffice business right from the start. A scant three years later, having outgrown their space in the harness shop they moved to new quarters at 271 South Wabash.
To their existing lines, they added bicycles and cycling equipment. Two years later, in 1896, requiring still more space, they moved to a corner store at Wabash and Van Buren. Here they expanded their lines of merchandise to include camping equipment, cutlery, athletic equipment and photo supplies.
Their business grew steadily and they re-mained at the Wabash-Van Buren location for 19 years.
In 1915 fire destroyed their store and they resettled in the Palmer House at 130-132 South Wabash. They remained there for 9 years, until 1924, when the Palmer House underwent a rebuilding. This time they moved northward to 33 South Wabash.
In 1928, they were acquired by the giant New York sporting goods firm of Abercrombie & Fitch. They were to remain a subsidiary of that firm for nearly half a century.
In 1941, in what was to be their final move, they relocated to a new 5-story building at 9 North Wabash. Here they remained for the next 36 years, until their closing in November, 1977.
With five floors and a mezzanine, sporting goods, health equipment, luggage, camping and marine equipment met the customer as he strolled the aisles. The second floor was devoted to guns, of which more than 600 were on display, together with their accouterments. The third and fourth floors featured men's and women's apparel for sport, street, beach and cruise wear. The fifth floor was devoted to general offices.
Through the years, VL & A boasted such notable customers as Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Wallace Beery, Ernest Hemingway, Carol Channing, Jack Webb, Forrest Tucker and Fred MacMurray.
In 1970, the Abercrombie & Fitch chain began to sustain losses after having hit an earnings peak in 1968. In 1975, the giant firm was granted a Chapter XI Bankruptcy Petition. It continued to operate under court protection from its creditors. For 15 months it tried in vain to extricate itself from its financial difficulties. Nor could a buyer be found for the 9 store chain. Finally, the firm announced a four-day liquidation sale beginning November 17, 1977.
Prior to the sale, five stores nationally closed their doors. The remaining four stores, New York, Chicago, Bal Harbour (Florida) and San Francisco, remained open and held their sales as announced.
On November 20, 1977, Von Lengerke & Antoine, together with the remaining stores of Abercrombie & Fitch, faded into history.
Luger Holsters & Accessories of the 20th Century
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: turnerriver,

I know this is a weird request, but take the gun out of the holster and look down inside. Is there a small block of leather sewn inside? Right where the rear site sits?

N frame holsters aren't that rare from HHH. Some were made for target sighted guns, and have that leather block sewn in. Others were for fixed sight guns and don't have the block. It doesn't really matter that much, but its an interesting little piece of trivia.

A while back, maybe 5 years, I was looking for a Heiser for a Colt single action. A vendor at the gunshow had about 4 or 5 holsters and belts. I was kind of in a hurry and picked the one that looked the nicest. All had labels that they were for Colt SAAs, 5 1/2". I paid my money and walked away. When I got back to our tables, Hugh May was watching my approach. His eyes lit up when he saw the leather and wanted to know "where'd you get that?" Only then did he point out that it was a great find for my 6" RMs. It actually will hold a 6 1/2, too. And the cartridge loops are for 38/357s. Of course I acted like I knew that all along. Stupid is as stupid does. Everyone thought I was really smart that day!

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:
.... take the gun out of the holster and look down inside. Is there a small block of leather sewn inside? Right where the rear site sits?

Well, I was thinkin' I had a couple Heisers with the 'sight protector', so I had to go look. Out of the 15 or so I found, only one of 'em has the sewn-in leather block. And it's actually one of the 'newest' of the bunch with the four digit model number. It's a #1418 and is a perfect fit for my Combat Masterpiece.

Now ya got me curious about when that feature was first seen on Heisers. That answer might be in the upcoming book 'turnerriver' mentions above.

Mark Gallaher

Well, that'd be cool having a book on the subject! Most of what we think we know now is all word of mouth and experiences.

Thats kind of how Supica & Nahas got started. They were mad that the subject of S&Ws had never really been addressed. So they wrote the text on it, all from notes and memories. They also were open minded enough to allow some of us to contribute and add our observations. That has made it a much better book.

Once someone solves the HHH mystery, we'll only have the ammo box problems to solve. Then we can all die happy men (and women.)

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:
I know this is a weird request, but take the gun out of the holster and look down inside. Is there a small block of leather sewn inside? Right where the rear site sits?

I took a look inside and no block of leather on this one.

As for a book on Heiser, that would help considerably. Until then, I'll rely on the forum and turnerriver .

larry, nice rig. you really need to upgrade the grips. i'd be ashamed to show those in public. send them to me and i'll fix em for you. lee