Colorado Saddlery

[boykinlp]

In my O.Ball holster thread, I said I had 2 "new to me" holsters. Here is the second one. It is a Colorado Saddlery Holster Model 1932 (I think). The reason I say I think is that it is hard to tell if the number on the back of the holster is 1932 or 1952. I am hoping that one of you folks has the same style or a catalog and can tell me which is correct. From looking around online, I think I may have figured out some of Colorado Saddlery's numbering system. It looks like if the first 2 numbers are "17" the holster will be plain, if "18" the holster will be basketweaved, and if "19" it will be floral carved. I assume that the last 2 numbers are the style. Please correct me if I am wrong.

The holster is full floral carved, smooth leather lined, and latigo crosslaced. A previous owner did a few modifications. They added a hammer thong and a leg tie-down. The latigo crosslace is missing a few bits too. Other than that, it is in great condition. one thing I like about Colorado Saddlery is that they tell you what guns to put in their holsters (kind of). This one is marked Colt DA 4 1/2. Since I don't know a lot about Colt's, maybe one of you fine folks can enlighten me on the different ones that may fit. Here are some pictures:

 

[poordevil]

It looks like 1952 to me

 

[bruce5781]

That one's a beauty. Thanks for sharing.

Regards,
Bruce

 

[crsides]

Larry, come on by and take your pick. I will be out of town, just tell the wife I said its ok. (I hope all those silly little faces are working)






Charlie

 

[rednichols]

Luvly. Colorado Saddlery was founded by four Heiser employees who broke away in 1945 when Heiser was sold to one of its distributors, and their line is very similar to Heiser's because of that. CS at some point became Hunter and the best known of the founders went back to Heiser and then on to Bucheimer and then Smith & Wesson Holsters which became Gould & Goodrich.

 

[boykinlp]

Larry, come on by and take your pick. I will be out of town, just tell the wife I said its ok. (I hope all those silly little faces are working)






Charlie

I think Charlie meant to post this in my O. Ball thread.

BTW, I went by your house and your lovely wife actually GAVE me both guns!! I told her to tell you "Thanks a lot!!"

 

[rednichols]

It's a Model 1932.

Here it is from their catalogue No. 8 which I speculate indicates 1953 because CS was founded 1945 (for all we know the catalogues were issued irregularly vs annually).

You don't know how sorry I am that I have such arcane knowledge at my fingertips.

 

[cwneely]

Probably for a New Service Colt. I don't think there were any other 4 1/2 inch DAs

 

[boykinlp]

It's a Model 1932.

Here it is from their catalogue No. 8 which I speculate indicates 1953 because CS was founded 1945 (for all we know the catalogues were issued irregularly vs annually).

You don't know how sorry I am that I have such arcane knowledge at my fingertips.

View attachment 279477

Thanks a lot for the information and the page from the catalog, Red! crsides, a friend on the forum, has the same model holster and he could not tell whether it was a 32 or 52 either, so this info will help him too.

 

[boykinlp]

Probably for a New Service Colt. I don't think there were any other 4 1/2 inch DAs

You are the only one, so far, to guess what it may fit. When I bought it, the seller said it fit a 4 3/4 inch SAA. I knew that could not be correct since it was marked DA and 4 1/2.

 

[Ronald1]

One of the other members was Dalhstrom. He had made a stamp with the name of Dalhstrom Saddlery, Denver but this stamp was used only a few times within 2-3 week period. After that it was never used again. I think it is rare to find the Dalhstrom Saddlery, Denver mark on holsters. When they formed the Colorado Saddlery, Denver business(still was in the oval shape as the Dalhstrom mark), then it went to the Large C later.

Luvly. Colorado Saddlery was founded by four Heiser employees who broke away in 1945 when Heiser was sold to one of its distributors, and their line is very similar to Heiser's because of that. CS at some point became Hunter and the best known of the founders went back to Heiser and then on to Bucheimer and then Smith & Wesson Holsters which became Gould & Goodrich.

 

[rednichols]

The holster is full floral carved, smooth leather lined, and latigo crosslaced. A previous owner did a few modifications. They added a hammer thong and a leg tie-down. The latigo crosslace is missing a few bits too.






Common error, to refer to that thonging as latigo; but we've discussed this before: it's rawhide. Quite different from latigo, rawhide is the stage after all the flesh and hair has been removed and before it is tanned to make it inert; it's edible! When dried the rawhide becomes rock hard, hence its use for lacing (which itself is usually used by a maker without a sewing machine anyway).

In this case, what's easy for anyone but a holsterphile to miss, is that this is the 'easy' way to make a Brill style holster (properly called a Texas Ranger holster, designed specifically for them [Capt. Hughes] and made only in Texas by a half dozen makers or more). The 'hard' part of a Brill is its unnecessary complexity for the maker with little benefit for the wearer.

That cuff forms the lower half of the belt loop and in this case is done very well -- for a very wide belt, that is. Brills and others are found with tunnels as narrow as 1" and the cuff has been moved up or down to make this happen. Here, attaching the cuff by simple machine stitching, then hand-lacing it on the front, simplifies the structure significantly.