The Fall of the House of Heiser

After a pleasant (for me anyway) vacation over to the defensive carry subforum here, I'm back to offer more dry holstory.

The modern holster industry owes everything to the companies that replaced Heiser in the 1960s. Heiser was a mail order company, whilst Bianchi and Safariland promulgated the stocking dealer. This was a sea change. And John used to say that his opportunity to break into the industry was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that would not be repeated for others.

But how did this come to be, when Heiser had been prosperous since 1858? It was not because of Hermann's death at the turn of the 20th century by any means: it was his sons, and the Model T, that built a saddlery into a holster company to be reckoned with.

As the bits come together a likely scenario appears mighty plausible, through tracking the appearances of newspaper articles of the company's era and its catalogues -- and its many moves around the city of Denver.

There were four Heiser sons. The youngest died the year before Hermann and played no part in the rise of the House of Heiser. Son Ewald became the head of the saddlery whilst the other two sons focused on automobiles and banking, I believe.

So it was a young Ewald who was the man who mattered. I would say that later, the company moved at least once in support of WWII, and the end of the war and Ewald's age led the company to be acquired by The Denver Dry Goods, a huge retailer that by the early 1960s had itself been sold for $20 million. DDG for no obvious reason, acquired Heiser though it already owned its own saddlery in Denver called Powder River; and Ewald stayed on to manage it. I expect not a lot of money changed hands.

DDG "released its interest" in Heiser in 1950 after selling the Heiser building, both likely because Ewald had been killed in an auto accident in 1949 and DDG was a retailer. My view is that phrase was not about 'selling' the company; Keyston Bros did not merge with Heiser for five more years. More likely is that DDG simply let it go back to the remaining two Heiser brothers John and Arthur, once it became an albatross for DDG.

In the 1950s Keyston Bros. was huge in what were called then "junior cowboy and cowgirl capgun sets". Interestingly to me, the capguns themselves were accessories; it was the leather sets that Keyston made that were the 'value added', and today they are mighty collectible and bring higher prices than Heisers. This one is a restoration:



I have yet to sight any Heiser catalogues past No. 42, which is 1949 or so, until No. 50 appeared. It seems to me that the two brothers trundled along with that single catalogue until, in 1955, Keyston 'merged' with Heiser; that is, perhaps simply took it over, so that they could continue to empire build by adding capacity for capgun sets. Catalogue No. 50 appeared and is calculated to be 1957, at which point with it and No. 51 there was rather odd experimentation with adding to the model numbers prefixes, then changing to suffixes, then by No. 52 dispensing with both!

By 1960 they had acquired another saddlery, Lichtenberger-Ferguson; or so legend has it, because A.J. Keyston already owned the company by the mid-1940s. The company became first Heiser-Keyston (the sequence of names I suggest was for credibility) then Heiser-Keyston-Lichtenberger. Perhaps Lichtenberger, which dated from the beginning of the century, was for more capgun holster capacity.

But two things happened around 1960: John (actually Johanne) Heiser died, too, in 1961; and the appearance of Dr. No in 1962 spelt the end of junior cowboy holster sets. I'm aware of HKL catalogues only up until 1960 and thereafter the brand appears to have simply faded away.

Enter John Bianchi with his efforts beginning 1963 and evolving into Bianchi Holster in 1966, which was his first full-time effort at a holster company. Perkins' Safariland split off in '65 and the two companies stormed the market place in the absence of Heiser (Keyston itself is still in business as an automotive supplier) and using the new 'stocking dealer' model that in the 1970s was either copied successfully by the other players, or else their companies faded away.

Which is a story for another day.

Interesting, but I never found many dealers who had a lot of Bianchi or Safariland holsters. Most dealers said the "public" wouldn't pay those prices for holsters.

Mine were by mail order in most cases. Later ones were all as-new gun show purchases.

Why would the appearance of, Dr. No in theaters in 1962 affect the sale of kids' Western holsters?

You 're probably aware that Ian Fleming goofed & had Bond wearing a Berns-Martin holster for his Walther PPK, at least in the books. His pal Boothroyd suggested the holster, but for small S&W .38's. Fleming just assumed that a Berns-Martin could also be had for small auto pistols.

The first Heiser holsters I saw were for the FBI. I suppose most were bought in the 1950's, but they were still used in the '60's.

Texas Star said:

Interesting, but I never found many dealers who had a lot of Bianchi or Safariland holsters. Most dealers said the "public" wouldn't pay those prices for holsters.

Mine were by mail order in most cases. Later ones were all as-new gun show purchases.

Why would the appearance of, Dr. No in theaters in 1962 affect the sale of kids' Western holsters?

You 're probably aware that Ian Fleming goofed & had Bond wearing a Berns-Martin holster for his Walther PPK, at least in the books. His pal Boothroyd suggested the holster, but for small S&W .38's. Fleming just assumed that a Berns-Martin could also be had for small auto pistols.

The first Heiser holsters I saw were for the FBI. I suppose most were bought in the 1950's, but they were still used in the '60's.

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Yes, the tale of Berns-Martin and Ian Fleming are well known. In his 1964 Playboy issue he lamented the "trolls" (not his word then) who were writing to him about this; "I send them all along to Boothroyd, unread" he said, "these people are quite frightening" or words to that effect.

The capgun era was driven by TV beginning with 1949's Hopalong Cassidy. It was a 1950s 'craze' like the hula hoop and the yo-yo and the next craze was Bond in the '60s. Too young to remember the changeover, with TV shows like Man from Uncle and Secret Agent Man? Capgun makers such as Hubley tried to switch over but . . .. This image is from The Saint:



I'm a student of the capgun era; 3,000 completely different sets were made by various companies (again, the toy pistols were only accessories to the holster sets; dealers could have the sets delivered from the holster makers with varying brands of them). After the Civil War centennial it all came to a screeching halt.

Thanks for reminding me, though; the '60s also saw capguns and holsters become plastic and Chinese, with the rise of imports to the USA. That would've done a number on the oldies who founded the toy companies in USA; I worked briefly for a leather handbag maker in S.F. and 1970 they closed their factory and imported their line entirely from China.

I sure wouldn't disagree about today's stocking dealers; my relatively recent trip to L.A. turned up small displays of old items and no interest in selling them. I read recently on LATimes.com tells me that small guns are likely to be legalised there again -- but in the meantime even holsters for them also couldn't be sold?! And I think they're crazy here, when it comes to guns (I had to get an import license to bring in my 1950 and 1960 Hubley capguns).

I had many cap guns, with varying themes. Cop shows were popular, and I had a Dragnet gun that was clearly patterned after an S&W Model 12, which Sgt. Friday had on the show. I also had Western guns, all copies of the Colt SAA and a Hubley "Colt .45", really a repro of Colt's M-1860 Army .44. Also had a smaller DA copy of a Remington.

I think I know what caused the dearth of good toy guns, but because the reasons are based in race and politics, I can't discuss it here.

Why did you move to Australia? Surely you knew that guns are severely regulated and limited there. Seems a poor place for a holster designer to live.

I was interested n your description of the holster industry for toy guns. Few if any of these holsters impressed me as a kid. Some copied Civil War holsters and were probably the most authentic.

BTW, I had read Elmer Keith's, Sixguns and other gun books and magazines by age 12, and I looked for toy guns and holsters.

I have seen Aussie cop holsters in use in reality shows like Highway Patrol: Australia and on the series, Blue Heelers.

I think the holsters worn on, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (filmed in Queensland) were made n Australia. That worn by Rachel Blakely as Marguerite was especially stylish. It reminds me of Bianchi's old Model 16. I have one, for a S&W M-19 with six-inch barrel. I don't like the snap-off feature, but it's otherwise a good flap holster.

As for Ian Fleming, I wrote to him re Bond's guns, suggesting a Chief's Special .38 with three-inch barrel, in Gaylord thumbsnap and inside pants holsters. His secretary replied that he was away, but that he'd see my letter on his return. I never heard from him. Boothroyd did reply and we had some interesting exchanges. He said that some nut fans had actually suggested that Bond carry .44 cap & ball Remingtons! I was a teen, but already knew guns pretty well.

Texas Star said:

As for Ian Fleming, I wrote to him re Bond's guns, suggesting a Chief's Special .38 with three-inch barrel, in Gaylord thumbsnap and inside pants holsters. His secretary replied that he was away, but that he'd see my letter on his return. I never heard from him. Boothroyd did reply and we had some interesting exchanges. He said that some nut fans had actually suggested that Bond carry .44 cap & ball Remingtons!

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You're not a young feller, are you, that was late '50s and very early '60s (he was dead by '64)! I was hardly born myself but recall finding my Dad's copy of Dr. No and thinking, wow, I think I like girls more than guns -- which is why I moved to Australia, for the gorgeous Australian women like my friend Liz who was Australian Penthouse cover girl and centrefold 1997. I arrived on the scene 1999 so as not to miss anything. No portion of my autographed centrefold is suitable for publication here!

I'm recalling it was JFK whose reputation for reading the Bond books in the White House got the ball rolling for Fleming. I hear that JFK liked girls a lot, too.

Perhaps I'll start a thread on capgun holsters separately, so we can get back to the Fall of the House of Heiser (just recently picked up info on Hoyt, too). The sets of the era were far finer than perhaps you recall. And perhaps another on Fleming, about whom I have both the Sports Illustrated article that got him in so much strife with gun folk, and the Playboy interview that followed; and his letters with Boothroyd.

What do you know about this capgun Red? It is my one and only capgun.
I bought the holster. Then didn't have a gun that would fit in it. So I
went looking. Thought the 1903 Colt would work but couldn't quite
talk myself into spending several hundred dollars on a gun for a cheap
holster. The Hubley is pretty close dimensions to the 1903 Colt. It
works perfectly.

Also, you might consider the emergence of the Vietnam war into the living room. We wanted Western/Cowboy gear (because those were in the movies) but WWII movies and TV shows were bringing us into the more modern era. I remember a lot of military hardware on the toy shelves and possibly, while the western gear didn't go away, there was a whole lot more combat gear competing. You can't watch Rat Patrol with a Winchester....

Let's face it...

An interesting thread to be sure.

Having grown up in the 50s and 60s and being an avid fan of Hoppy and his horse Shadow, Roy and Trigger, Gene and Champion and especially, the Lone Ranger and Silver........I was a little cowboy in the city....living just a few miles south of SF.

The only gifts I wanted for Christmas or birthday, from 6-11, were two gun revolver sets, or lunch boxes that reflected my heroes, above. At 12, I discovered the little green eyed, red headed girl, around the block and I had a swelling desire to retain her company and that of her sister as well. The gun, holster and cowboy craze...faded. The two girls were a whole other story.

Back on topic. I had at one time, circa 1958, 6-two gun holster sets, along with an assortment of rifles. We are talking cap guns, of course.
Each of my above heroes wore two gun setups and they had cap guns sets marketed to mimic them.
I had one set, that actually had metal outer holsters with the inner part made of leather and mounted on a leather belt.
I owned another set, whereby the cap guns were replica Colt .45 M1873 Peacemakers. Two very large guns for a 9 year old to handle, but handle them I did and I could fan them too. They were difficult to twirl because of the weight and those 7 inch long barrels. My 4 3/4 replicas were lighter and much easier.
The Colt replicas had realistic cartridges that came apart and after pulling out the bullet, the cap was placed at the bottom of the case, where a flash hole would be on a real casing. I would load all of them with caps, replace the bullets and insert the cartridge into the gun after opening the realistic right hand side, loading gate.
Those guns came with a compliment of holsters and belt, wrist cuffs, spurs, chaps and red kerchief. I wish I had them today. I think Mom and Dad gave them away after I lost interest to the redhead. I didn't miss them until I moved out of the house and went looking for all my stuff......and it had mysteriously disappeared. Because of that, I covet all my possessions today and keep close watch on them.
And yes, I had a Fanner 50 also.
I wanted a real horse to match, but that was out of the question.

bulldog01 said:

Also, you might consider the emergence of the Vietnam war into the living room. We wanted Western/Cowboy gear (because those were in the movies) but WWII movies and TV shows were bringing us into the more modern era. I remember a lot of military hardware on the toy shelves and possibly, while the western gear didn't go away, there was a whole lot more combat gear competing. You can't watch Rat Patrol with a Winchester....

Let's face it...

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You are correct. My last rifle was a replica Garrand.

I still lament the loss of my Fanner 50.

The people have spoken

Fair enough, even I was a bit bored by the way I told the Heiser tale (but mighty excited when I worked it out!). The capgun holster side of it has attracted more interest, so:

During 2000 to 2010, whilst I was in forced retirement from building real holsters because even blue guns are heavily regulated in the southern State of Victoria where I lived in Australia (for the reasons I mentioned earlier), I researched the life and times of capgun holsters, and built replicas that I sold on auction sites. Fetched might good money then; here's are a few examples of Roy Rogers repro sets with every bit of the hardware re-plated in what I called "Nichols Liquid Nickel" it was so glossy:







I'll put up more posts, showing some of the real thing, that represented the very best and most imaginative of what the industry including Keyston and its satellites, offered during the 1950s.

My image collection, which is about 15,000 images of which perhaps half is related to capguns, shows that the vast majority of capguns and capgun sets were western, with a smattering of military, police, space, and even pirate sets

Back to the (not) boring house of Heiser- here are some photos of the later catalogs and flyers from Heiser that I possess.
Catalog 52 with date inside


1958 flyer obtained from Evaluators Ltd.

1965-66 HKL catalog

Date information inside-I'm glad the dealer didn't tear it out.

Two of the four pages devoted to holsters in this catalog.

The other two pages. Note no floral carving or basketweave stamping offered and the 457 is the only model offered from the original line, the rest are in stock Sportsman holsters. The 457 is the only offering made to order.

Randall knife collectors maintain that Heiser Randall knife sheaths were made up into the mid 1960's and possibly later.
I do remember having a derringer belt buckle that sprang out and fired a cap.
Regards,
turnerriver

Yup, still got my derringer belt buckle. It's a Mattel, it's swell!!



Just wanted to add: a very interesting thread. Sure brought back a lot of memories. We probably have to thank Orva Ojala for most of the TV cowboys holsters. That was him in the showdown with Marshall Dillon at the beginning of the show. Gunsmoke!!

Turnerriver certainly knows how to pique my interest: data.

I, too, have the No. 52 catalogue, and its accompanying 1957 letter and brochure celebrating the 100 year anniversary 1858-1958. The HKL No. 90 is new, though!

Heiser, Heiser-Keyston, and Heiser-Keyston-Lichtenberger catalogues are always numbered, but not always dated. In fact, usually are not dated. Heiser catalogues, though, include a half dozen that have: the catalogue number, the anniversary number, and the date range (founding to current date). Trouble is, Heiser used three different founding dates: 1856, 1857, and 1858; and this has affected how the catalogues are numbered.

I did an analysis some time ago, to see if all this could be rationalised; and discovered that all the dates and numbers and anniversaries align best when centred around Heiser No. 29: it is marked No. 29, 78th anniversary, and 1858-1936. With this as the foundation, the dating of all the other catalogues is either dead-on with the formula (catalogue number plus 7 years) or off by no more than one year either way. That's as close as one can get it seems, and generally other well-regarded references like Packing Iron 'agree' (date them the same as the formula says they would be) though we're not all 'there' yet on No. 6 and prior.

It would appear, then, that Heiser catalogue numbers are based on a founding date of 1858, and that the first one appeared at the company's 50 anniversary: 1908. Hermann's sons had taken over at that point, Hermann having died in 1904. And catalogues weren't affordable much earlier than that; instead companies used what were called 'cabinet cards' and in the case of saddlers, were typically a picture of the front of the building with its employees, or an interior (ditto). These are sometimes mistakenly thought of as post cards.

So: with what we know now about Heiser's history -- purchased by The Denver Dry Goods in 1945 retaining Ewald Heiser, Ewald dying in 1949, DDG releasing its interest in the company in 1950, Keyston merging with Heiser in 1955, a change to marketing the brand from Heiser to Heiser-Keyston, Keyston's addition of Lichtenberger saddlery circa (no hard evidence yet) 1959, the brand becoming Heiser-Keyston-Lichtenberger -- I can make it all work in the formula.

(Note: reviewing my data about the HKL catalogue's era, despite the hard evidence of their No. 90 being dated 1965/66 (thanks turnerriver!) their numbering system, as opposed to Heiser's, only fits the facts of Keyston Bros.' founding date of 1873, and the acquisition of Lichtenberger circa 1959, and the name change from HK to HKL; if we think of the 65/66 version being an anomaly -- so not 90 years from 1873). I can make that 'work' in my head if there was a reason for them to skip a couple of years but insist on sequentially marking No. 90 anyway .

Now, this new bit of info was a surprise. I've been corresponding with the chap who wrote the book, literally, about The Denver Dry Goods (yes, that's the name of the book itself). DDG was a huge retailer in Denver that owned Heiser 1945-1950. And, yet, it seems Denver has no idea about Heiser at all!

Yet the company is so significant to us holsterphiles. One of Heiser's famous addresses in Denver -- there were six -- is 15th and Wynkoop. I look it up and see that there is a building at one of those corners that is called The Saddlery, now refurbished and housing restaurants etc. Must be it.

Nope, all of the Denver histories -- including the author I've mentioned -- that I can locate say it is the former home of The Colorado Saddlery. CS was formed by former Heiser employees (x4) in 1946, likely as a result of Heiser's purchase by DDG.

But Denver appears to be entirely unaware of Heiser. Even unaware of the Heiser Building in another part of town, which housed their automobile dealership and then became a Buick dealership; then in 1971 was demolished to make way for the Blue Cross building that is still there today.

Yet, in the scheme of holstory, Colorado Saddlery (still exists, doesn't do holsters) contributed nothing; and Heiser was the very basis of all 20th century holsters -- and isn't remembered at all in Denver.

It has been suggested that Heiser's building was one of the other three buildings at that intersection, which according to Saddles and Gunleather by Bender, was a four story building. But not necessarily the building known as The Saddlery. And none of the four are, today, four stories unless we squint and imagine which one could have formerly been such.

Could it be, a hundred years of Heiser history and it amounted to nothing at all for the City of Denver?

rednichols said:

Could it be, a hundred years of Heiser history and it amounted to nothing at all for the City of Denver?

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There is so much history lost every single day it's probably staggering. If we as a society don't study and learn the past, then it will surely be forgotten.

I'm not really into holsters, but this thread was interesting. Students of academia never get tired of learning new stuff, especially when it interests them.

So exactly who made my Heiser Marked issued GI holster with FSN?
Made probably mid- 1960s.

With that pivot, it looks like a Braur Bros. product.

I didn't think I'd have any interest in this thread. don't stop now. Keep going. Fascinating story. thanks.