Holsters Makers: Hermann H. Heiser Archive

22hipower · #51 03-02-2024, 10:16 AM

Great thread, missed it until today. Thanks to ENNE-FRAME and
turnerriver and all who posted all that beautiful leather work.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

ENNE-FRAME · #52 03-02-2024, 11:12 AM

reference to posts number 47 and 48

From the Seattle Hardware Company catalogue, we see an example of the Waffle stamped finish, style No. 181

Unmodified type 712 holster triple loop and special order 712 holster always triple loop with safety strap and snap button

From Packing Iron book, holster No. 212, as 112 but makes with medium weight leather instead of the 112 made with thickness leather, example with safety strap.

turnerriver · #53 03-02-2024, 12:43 PM

I have one model 712 holster that is shown in Holstory, it fits a 6” K-22. I think this was one of only a couple of models that Heiser routinely carved the loops on.

Wyatt Burp · #54 03-02-2024, 03:10 PM

I've found many holster treasures looking through gun shop junk holster and parts boxes including this Heiser holster for an artillery Luger. At $25 it was more expensive than I'm used to. But a Luger collector bought it at a massive profit. I only knew what it was for because "Luger" was scribed by hand in the back before it was dyed.

Revoman · #55 03-02-2024, 10:41 PM

Amazing holsters and history. Hats off to you fellas for for sharing the photos and education.

ENNE-FRAME · #56 03-03-2024, 04:28 PM

Original Laced Loop Belt Holsters
Lined holster
No.4--- Plain Smooth Finish
No.5--- Hand Basket Stamped
No.7--- Mexican Hand Carved

ENNE-FRAME · #57 03-03-2024, 05:18 PM

Original Laced Loop Belt Holsters
Lined holster
No.4--- Plain Smooth Finish
No.5--- Hand Basket Stamped (image not found)
No.7--- Mexican Hand Carved
Compared to the type 427-727 this variant presents the Open End and the Snap Button Safety Strap

ENNE-FRAME · #58 03-03-2024, 06:16 PM

New Laced Loop Belt Holster
Unlined holster

No. 426--- Fine Plain Smooth Finish
No. 526--- Full hand Basket stamped (image not found)
No. 726--- Fine Mexican hand Carved

ENNE-FRAME · #59 03-03-2024, 06:39 PM

New Laced Loop Belt Holster
Unlined holster

No. 726--- Fine Mexican hand Carved

ENNE-FRAME · #60 03-03-2024, 08:40 PM

Original Laced Loop Belt Holsters
Lined holster
No.427--- Plain Smooth Finish
No.527--- Hand Basket Stamped (image not found)
No.727--- Mexican Hand Carved

rednichols · #61 03-04-2024, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyatt Burp

I've found many holster treasures looking through gun shop junk holster and parts boxes including this Heiser holster for an artillery Luger. At $25 it was more expensive than I'm used to. But a Luger collector bought it at a massive profit. I only knew what it was for because "Luger" was scribed by hand in the back before it was dyed.

Not dyed, of course, Wyatt. Oiled.

Papa Lee · #62 03-21-2024, 01:23 PM

Large 3 loop H.H. Heiser holster with thong wrapped edge for a 7 1/2" barrel Colt New Service. I had previously believed that the 3 loop Heiser 712 pattern was rather rare. But after seeing Marcello's and John's holsters in this post, I am not so certain

.

boykinlp · #63 03-21-2024, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Papa Lee

Large 3 loop H.H. Heiser holster with thong wrapped edge for a 7 1/2" barrel Colt New Service. I had previously believed that the 3 loop Heiser 712 pattern was rather rare. But after seeing Marcello's and John's holsters in this post, I am not so certain

.

Very Nice, Lee!
Larry

ENNE-FRAME · #64 03-22-2024, 11:29 AM

Extra Fine Belt Holsters
No.453---Fine plain smooth finish
No.553---Full hand basket stamped-image not found
No.753---Full Mexican hand carved

ENNE-FRAME · #65 03-22-2024, 11:32 AM

Extra Fine Belt Holsters

No.753---Full Mexican hand carved

ENNE-FRAME · #66 03-22-2024, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Papa Lee

Large 3 loop H.H. Heiser holster with thong wrapped edge for a 7 1/2" barrel Colt New Service. I had previously believed that the 3 loop Heiser 712 pattern was rather rare. But after seeing Marcello's and John's holsters in this post, I am not so certain

.

Congrats for your nice Heiser 712.
Personally I'm looking for one #512 RH basket weave finish for N frame with the 6.5 inch barrel.

rednichols · #67 03-25-2024, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENNE-FRAME

Hello members
The description model by model of the holsters produced by the Hermann H. Heiser company of Denver Colorado begins with this thread.
Everyone can collaborate, in fact I absolutely ask you to do so, among you there are the greatest experts in the sector.
Please, when you insert a model, write in the title the number that Heiser had attributed to that model and the variants, Plain smooth, Full basket hand stamped and Full Mexican hand carved.
If possible, publish the catalog page where the model is shown, and as many explanatory descriptive photos as possible.
It would be nice if some expert would write a short history of the Heiser as an introduction to this archival work.
Any of your input is welcome.

After viewing the assortment of images from the OP I'm guessing you are a collector of images as I am, vs. a collector of the gunleather itself. Personally I've made too much of it to value a holster on its own.

Here's Heiser's story, from catalogue no 23. It's as much legend as it is fact because not only is it from decades after Hermann's death but the company did not even make holsters in his time; it was his sons who branched into them because of the automobile (which they also tried selling).

ENNE-FRAME · #68 03-25-2024, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rednichols

After viewing the assortment of images from the OP I'm guessing you are a collector of images as I am, vs. a collector of the gunleather itself. Personally I've made too much of it to value a holster on its own.

Here's Heiser's story, from catalogue no 23. It's as much legend as it is fact because not only is it from decades after Hermann's death but the company did not even make holsters in his time; it was his sons who branched into them because of the automobile (which they also tried selling).

Thanks Red for the story of the House
A little reflection follows:

I have been collecting Smith & Wesson since 1987. My passion for S&W revolvers pushed me to become a member of the SWCA.
By frequenting the forum I began to know better the world of traditional holsters and Gun Leather Makers.
I started to buy some examples of Heiser, Myres, Ball, Brill, Lawrence, Eubanks etc etc with great difficulty.
I noticed that a photographic archive or a catalog with the holsters I was looking for or purchasing would have been useful to support me.
With the help of your posts I started to understand something more, until the idea of opening this thread with the hope that other users would also publish images of their holsters with the numerical references present near the brand and with the catalog page where was described, when possible of course.
Since Heiser used to scratch the handgun models on the back of the holsters it was impossible to catalog the holsters by their codes.
I still hope that forum users will start participating in this thread by posting photos of the their beautiful holsters.
How nice it would be if together with the holster there was also the gun to which it is dedicated.

ENNE-FRAME · #69 03-25-2024, 11:06 AM

FANCY DESIGN SPOTTED HOLSTERS
No.415--- Trimmed with solid silver Nickel ornaments
This is a beautiful and iconic holster.

ENNE-FRAME · #70 03-30-2024, 10:13 AM

Flap Belt Holsters for Revolvers

Page of catalogue No.30

No.1435---Plain smooth finish

ENNE-FRAME · #71 03-30-2024, 10:25 AM

Belt holsters with flap for revolvers

No.1535---Full hand basket stamped

For my birthday I gave myself a present, (it's nice to tell lies to yourself, I would have bought it anyway!)

This special order 1535 for 6 inch barrel K frame, rawhide laced with snaps buttons on the belt loop.

Now we need the intervention of turnerriver to show his beautiful 1735 and boykinlp with his very special 175 cross draw

turnerriver · #72 03-30-2024, 05:04 PM

That’s a very fine birthday present, Marcello.
Here’s an older basketweave Heiser model 181 flap holster made for a Savage pocket auto.

Regards,

rednichols · #73 03-30-2024, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENNE-FRAME

FANCY DESIGN SPOTTED HOLSTERS
No.415--- Trimmed with solid silver Nickel ornaments
This is a beautiful and iconic holster.

Arguably that is the Navajo 'whirling logs' emblem but the Heisers were Germans like all saddlers of the old West, so will we ever know for certain?

ENNE-FRAME · #74 03-30-2024, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rednichols

Arguably that is the Navajo 'whirling logs' emblem but the Heisers were Germans like all saddlers of the old West, so will we ever know for certain?

However, it is reasonable to think that these holsters predated the birth of the National Socialist Party in 1919.
However, your doubts may be legitimate

ENNE-FRAME · #75 03-31-2024, 06:16 AM

However, it would be interesting to understand when these holsters were removed from the catalogue and in which years this happened

turnerriver · #76 03-31-2024, 06:55 AM

I’m away from my catalogs and can’t check but I’m confident they were removed from the catalog in the early 1900’s. They weren’t the only maker to use that decoration, I’ve had several Lawrence holsters with this snap.

Regards,

huntsman22 · #77 03-31-2024, 10:52 PM

ENNE-FRAME · #78 04-01-2024, 04:29 AM

Good example of 225 metal spring shoulder holster

huntsman22 thanks for sharing

rednichols · #79 04-01-2024, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENNE-FRAME

However, it is reasonable to think that these holsters predated the birth of the National Socialist Party in 1919.
However, your doubts may be legitimate

It's your catalogue page so you'll know its year (all Heiser catalogues have been dated in Holstory the Book). My first mention for Heiser is their catalogue No. 20 that is 1923. Heiser catalogues are always numbered but not always dated, but gathering several sources of data including all the dated ones allowed me to firm up the dates for all of them. I'm interested that Packing Iron uses the same dates for the Heiser cats it mentions and that book predates mine.

ENNE-FRAME · #80 04-01-2024, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rednichols

It's your catalogue page so you'll know its year (all Heiser catalogues have been dated in Holstory the Book). My first mention for Heiser is their catalogue No. 20 that is 1923. Heiser catalogues are always numbered but not always dated, but gathering several sources of data including all the dated ones allowed me to firm up the dates for all of them. I'm interested that Packing Iron uses the same dates for the Heiser cats it mentions and that book predates mine.

Hi Red, we need the intervention, to help us, of turnerriver with his catalogs, because i've found, the page of the catalog posted, on the web without any reference of the year

turnerriver · #81 04-01-2024, 09:31 AM

I’m away from my catalogs for a while, I’ll update when I return home.
Here’s a model 225 holster that came with a letter from Roy Jinks.

Regards,

ENNE-FRAME · #82 04-01-2024, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turnerriver

I’m away from my catalogs for a while, I’ll update when I return home.
Here’s a model 225 holster that came with a letter from Roy Jinks.
Regards,

-We wait your coming home of course, thank you

ENNE-FRAME · #83 05-18-2024, 06:21 PM

In a recent conversation with turnerriver we noted the use of a third type of snap buttons.
Probably during the war period,
given the shortage of brass, Heiser had resorted to a particular type of automatic button, this time in bronzed sheet metal with a characteristic 4-petals construction.

rednichols · #84 05-18-2024, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENNE-FRAME

In a recent conversation with turnerriver we noted the use of a third type of snap buttons.
Probably during the war period,
given the shortage of brass, Heiser had resorted to a particular type of automatic button, this time in bronzed sheet metal with a characteristic 4-petal construction.

When dating gunleather we do tend to focus on the button vs the socket, as you're noticing now. The type you've shown is pre-war, the one we use today is wartime and into today.

Materials in the snaps are chosen for all kinds of reasons; stainless for maritime for example and originally was brass, to avoid rust from salt water. Ultimately the change to durable snaps was at War's beginning to get a better grip on such as tarpaulins on ship's decks.

One can use a different metal on each of the four parts, for various reasons. Brass for the cap because the P.D. requires brass, but black steel on the other parts because they're cheaper. The eyelets come in different tube lengths depending on material thickness, the caps, too. The studs come with different 'platform' heights for the same reason.

If the maker chooses a cap or eyelet with a too-long barrel for the application, the barrel can either shear off when it is 'clinched' or pile up inside the mating part and interfere with the snap's function. They're a bloody nightmare even for little 'custom' makers.

Ultimately today's small makers don't use snapped straps because one can't count on them being set so well that they don't need replacing before they even leave the shop floor; the machines often shearing off the 'clinch' while the item is still 'work in process'.

Even modern 'security' holster came to rely on the snap as a last resort if the mechanisms of the holster failed, which then defeated the purpose of even having the mechanisms because the snaps can fail anyway. Safariland's security holsters show us just how hard they've battled this conflict.

The snap fastener types we will encounter in gunleather; the images are labelled:

turnerriver · #85 05-18-2024, 08:32 PM

Here are some of the snaps I’ve seen on Heiser holsters, enough of each type to believe they were in use for a while. My opinion only-I have assumed that when Heiser ran out of the brass and black enamel 3 H snaps they went to a cheaper snap and I’ve also assumed there wasn’t much brass available during WW II so they used a pot metal snap. Assumptions-the bane of collectors !
Textured plain brass snap

Brown enamel Heiser Denver snap, first appears in an early 1940’s

Brass and black enamel 3 H snap, pre-war up into the 1930’s.
Left holster has what I call a pot metal snap.

Another pot metal snap.

Regards,

rednichols · #86 05-19-2024, 03:50 AM

John is our Heiser expert, I've more experience in the making of gunleather. So I'll mention that when viewing a 'cap' or 'button' of the snap such as a Durable, the concave part is a thin stamped shell of metal that has been clinched around the perimeter of an drawn eyelet base, to make a whole part. In such a case the concave cover can be brass and the eyelet attached to it can be another metal. And the several parts to all this are plated variously, in nickel or blackened for rust resistance, before assembly to each other.

ENNE-FRAME · #87 05-19-2024, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turnerriver

Here are some of the snaps I’ve seen on Heiser holsters, enough of each type to believe they were in use for a while. My opinion only-I have assumed that when Heiser ran out of the brass and black enamel 3 H snaps they went to a cheaper snap and I’ve also assumed there wasn’t much brass available during WW II so they used a pot metal snap. Assumptions-the bane of collectors !
Regards,

from this basis, the photos posted by turnerriver, I would try to make a classification of the hardware used by Heiser.
1) Brass and black enamel 3 H
2) Brown enamel Heiser Denver
3) Four petals burnished sheet metal (found more pics with this snap button)
4) Textured large plain brass snap (to confirm with other photos)
5)...........
6)...........