I found this in the bottom of a trunk hiding in the attic of wife’s family home, her family had 135 years of living at the homestead and one of her kin was a soldier in the Civil War I believe this to be his but can’t find any identification marks. Anway to authenticate and any value ?


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You can see by the imprint of the wedge, cylinder and loading lever that it held a cap and ball revolver for a long time. The construction & finial are consistent with 19th Century holsters, in my opinion. The family history is a good start, comparing to known examples is useful as well. I wouldn’t have a guess on value.
Nice family heirloom, thanks for showing it.
Regards,
turnerriver

__________________
turnerriver

The family had his sword and belt on display in the living room but nobody new about the holster, I found it when we moved MIL and it’s been in my possession for over twenty years now.


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The remaining imprint of the revolver is clear enough to identify it as an early Colt percussion revolver, and the barrel/loading lever profile is pretty distinctly that of a Dragoon model, which makes it of pre-Civil War era.

Just about all Civil War units were chartered as state militia companies, either pre-dating the war or specifically organized to enter the war (and that generally applies to both North and South). It was typical that officers provide their own uniforms and equipment, such as sidearms (pistols, swords, etc). There was a tremendous demand for weapons of all types to fill military contracts, so revolvers were both scarce and sought after. It is entirely likely that your wife's ancestor either owned the revolver prior to the conflict, or purchased what was available in order to outfit himself. Much of that demand was met locally, although there were companies that offered military uniforms and accoutrements via catalog sales (Abercrombie & Fitch had a very large department specializing in these items in the 19th Century and continuing well past WW2, and I'm sure there were others serving the same market).

The holster itself is in the general pattern of military holsters of the period and was probably made specifically for military uniform use. Without maker's markings it would be very difficult to tell definitively who the maker was, whether it was produced on military contract or (probably more likely) made in a local saddlery shop for an individual soldier or officer.

Documenting the family history and tracing these items (holster, sword, scabbard, belt, etc) to the specific individual will do a great deal toward establishing the provenance that adds to value and desirability of antiques and collectibles. There is a very strong collector market for items like this and values are all over the scale, with historical research and provenance pushing the numbers higher up the scale. If possible, keeping everything together would probably increase overall values significantly.

In recent years I have seen original Civil War revolver holsters offered at prices that the original revolvers would not have brought just a couple of decades ago. Properly documented, I wouldn't be surprised to see your holster bring several hundred dollars with proper exposure to the collector marketplace.

Very interesting piece!

Thank you sir for the in-depth reply.

this gentleman was a gunsmith, cooper and cabinet maker and we have several pieces of his furniture but the sword and accoutrements went to a nephew so all we have is a holster.


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