A pair of late Myres holsters

[turnerriver]

Two recent acquisitions are both late Myres holsters.
The first one is maker etched for a 6 1/2” model 29 .44 Magnum revolver so it was made after model numbers came into use.

The second holster is even later, the oval logo coincides with catalog number 80, from no earlier than 1977. The leather is noticeably different as well, lighter and more flexible with a different finish. It fits a 5” Colt Official Police, a K frame revolver is a little loose in it. “ Cream calf skin “ lined, cross-draw for a left-hander.

Regards,
turnerriver

 

[DoubleAdobe]

Just mouth waterin'.

 

[rednichols]

Two recent acquisitions are both late Myres holsters.
The first one is maker etched for a 6 1/2” model 29 .44 Magnum revolver so it was made after model numbers came into use.

The second holster is even later, the oval logo coincides with catalog number 80, from no earlier than 1977. The leather is noticeably different as well, lighter and more flexible with a different finish. It fits a 5” Colt Official Police, a K frame revolver is a little loose in it. “ Cream calf skin “ lined, cross-draw for a left-hander.

Regards,
turnerriver

Darn it, John, stuff keeps getting left out.

1. When was the model numbering added for the M29?

and,

2. Catalog No. 80 is 1977; marking Myres' 80th year since founding in 1897 (*Sam himself used 1888). 1977 was the sole year that the company was operated by Frank LaCroix after he bought it from Col. Spurrier who bought it from Harlon Webb who bought it from Bill Myres who took it over from Dace Myres who inherited it from Sam.



Why would any of the above matter? Dating. Not all Myres are created equal, having been made since the 1920s to the 1980s and under various owners (and therefor qualities).

* 1888 was the year that Sam Myres began his apprenticeship, and 1897 (actually it was 1898) is the year that he started up on his own after buying out J.K. Polk in Sweetwater. So LaCroix, in choosing the latter, clearly knew the difference between a 'saddle cub' just starting out with T.R. James (1888) and a journeyman in business under his own name (1897/98). All makers, beginning with Hermann Heiser and including ALL the modern ones (Sparks, Bianchi, Galco, etc.), fib about their start dates; dunno why. What's a couple years? In the latter three cases it incorrectly puts their start into a prior decade.

 

[turnerriver]

Sorry, Red, I assumed which is not a good idea and makes an *** of me.

“ 1. When was the model numbering added for the M29 ? “
From the Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson:
“ Beginning about 1957, S&W assigned model numbers to all handguns.”
“ 2. Catalog No. 80 is 1977...”
I tried to say that-“ catalog number 80, from no earlier than 1977..”
My copy includes a letter from David Duclos, undated and with his business card with the Reading, Massachusetts address. It refers to a new price list being printed but not available yet. That’s why I stated no earlier than 1977, it could be later than 1977. A good friend ordered a belt from Mr. Duclos about 10-15 years ago, he was still operating as S.D. Myres Co. and still using the stamp. As you state, the business and dates are sometimes fluid.
I like to leave a little room for members to poke around, as we’ve recently learned what we report may be regarded as wrong or even injurious to others. I hope folks enjoy the holsters and maybe pick up something that helps when they see one elsewhere.
Regards,
turnerriver

 

[rednichols]

Sorry, Red, I assumed which is not a good idea and makes an *** of me.

“ 1. When was the model numbering added for the M29 ? “
From the Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson:
“ Beginning about 1957, S&W assigned model numbers to all handguns.”
“ 2. Catalog No. 80 is 1977...”
I tried to say that-“ catalog number 80, from no earlier than 1977..”
My copy includes a letter from David Duclos, undated and with his business card with the Reading, Massachusetts address. It refers to a new price list being printed but not available yet. That’s why I stated no earlier than 1977, it could be later than 1977. A good friend ordered a belt from Mr. Duclos about 10-15 years ago, he was still operating as S.D. Myres Co. and still using the stamp. As you state, the business and dates are sometimes fluid.
I like to leave a little room for members to poke around, as we’ve recently learned what we report may be regarded as wrong or even injurious to others. I hope folks enjoy the holsters and maybe pick up something that helps when they see one elsewhere.
Regards,
turnerriver

Very good, thanks so much John. I hadn't realized that the use of 'M29" on the holster's backside was significant to its dating (that prior the pistol didn't have a model number). Nor what that date of first use was; and thanks to you, now I know.

We're inching, very slowly, towards knowing which owner made the Myres holsters that feature the small 'no tex' mark on the backside. We can be confident that the 'with tex' mark is from Sam Myres' period; then we know that his nephew Dace was COO after Sam's death not least because he sent Sam's namesake son away then, saying there was no future for him there (so Sam Jr., aka Dale aka Ted) formed his own operation in Mexico.

I'm left believing that the 'no tex' mark is from Harlon Webb's era 1965 to 1975 that is well documented; thinking that this at least would be a reason for the mark to change in the first place. We may never know what a Spurrier-era holster looks like for sure.

The 'late sweetwater' mark we can be confident is from Duclos' era because he was the only 'modern' Myres maker to physically be located there; and we know from your collection that he also used the 'with tex' mark.

Catalog 80 has a page inside its front from Frank LaCroix, so I reckon we can be certain that it was created for his ownership. The '80' numbering makes it plausible that it was meant to be taken as '80th issue since 1897' because he has pointedly included the founding date in his logo. We have enough other evidence that 1977 was 'Frank's year' for owning Myres that we can be very certain of this. I damaged my image of that page by hitting 'save' instead of 'save a copy' when I cropped Frank's image from it, or I'd've included it by now:

 

[rednichols]

The known Myres marks (initial half, in order):

predecessor Polk's mark

the Myres Sweetwater mark

the 'with tex' mark

the 'no tex' mark

the 'since 1897' mark

 

[rednichols]

Then the final ones:

the late Sweetwater mark

and the late use of the 'with tex' mark

The LaCroix era logo (vs the mark on the holsters) 'since 1897' was derived from this early Myres saddlery mark:

 

[ISCS Yoda]

The company's hard assets, we know from contemporaneous articles, were acquired by Bob McNellis to form what he called El Paso Saddlery because, it appears, he didn't want to pay for the Myres name. These details are all documented in contemporaneous articles.

Yup, I believe I read that a long time ago.

Bob McNellis used to answer the phone when I called. Or he would call me back. He used to attend gun shows, too. I bought a number of western-style leather items from them in my cowboy action shooting days, as well as modern concealment leather.