Before you get worked up about this...no pictures, it is still in verification. Several Years ago, I obtained a pre war 1911 from a retired TX DPS officer. THD # 54 was engraved on the strap. It was shipped to L.G. Pharis c/o Texas State Highway Department on 02/25/ 1930. This is a rare Texas pistol. The THD is the forerunner of the Texas Department of Public Safety which was formed in, I believe, 1935. All of this information was recorded on a Colt letter.

I also have the " Blue Card" which traces the history of the pistol in the DPS. The first entry 1950 shows the pistol in the possession of L.G. Pharis. In 1980 it was issued to a person that appears to be a Texas Ranger. I am still trying to verify information on this historical Texas pistol.......more to follow.

No fair cheating by mispelling the names; I had a devil of a time locating your man whose surname is Phares:

Phares Collection - Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum

Look forward to hearing more; and that you have his holster for it, too :-).

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The Holstorian

Red,

You are correct about the spelling. The Colt letter carried the Pharis spelling. The holster is an unmarked and nicely carved 1911 right hand holster.

Brian Jefferies

Looking forward to the pics :-). There were about 3 dozen makers in TX in that period and the unmarked ones are less common than one would expect; construction details though, can help is i.d. the maker because a lack of a marking can mean the gunleather was made for a hardware store (a gun store) by a name maker but that store didn't want sales being diverted back to the maker from its marking.

It's the reason for the word "maker" in the center of maker's marks then (they're not 'cartouches' or 'hallmarks'; they're just 'web addresses'; this info is all that was required to get a letter to a maker whose work one admired; every post office had a person's name, address, even his/her employer and husband/wife listed):

2 bedell marks (4).jpg

__________________
The Holstorian

Chief Phares’s Colt SAA and holster from the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco.

Attached Images

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Bedell Rodgers was a saddle shop in longview tx, any thing you wanted out of leather he could make.He made billfolds for me. fyi.

I love the Texas Rangers, I am from Texas. I collect some memorial ranger material, for instance I just bought the A.G. Russell Texas Ranger bowie, one of 600. I also have a Ranger knife called " King of the Woods" from 2014, I believe. I received some help from the Ranger Museum in Waco, and found an un-circulated 1947 Mexican silver coin from which the Ranger Badges are made from.