Roy’s Leather Goods Pancake Holster Size Question

[mtice]

Hello I have a Roy’s Leather Goods pancake holster that is stamped with the number 15. No other markings are on the holster other than Roy ‘s makers mark. When I measure the barrel imprint from cylinder to muzzle it is 2”. Does anyone know what revolver a size 15 fits? My guess was a S&W model 15, but with a 2” barrel it seems an odd size or rare holster, one of the two. Any thoughts? Below is a picture. Thank you

 

[turnerriver]

My 1976 dated Roy Baker's Pancake Holsters catalog gives only model numbers-175,275 etc. up to 775 and the standard model 271. No size codes listed.
The introduction refers to Roy's teacher- " perhaps the greatest leather artisan in America's history." What do you bet Red knows who that is ?
Regards,
turnerriver

 

[WCCPHD]

I have a collection of Roy Baker Pancake holsters, mostly for S&W revolvers. They are either marked sm (small) med (medium) or large or for specific model numbers. I have them that fit Model 29's and they are marked 29 and for Model 19's that are marked 19. So, from this I would tend to agree that the OP's holster is for a S&W Model 15, two inch.

I buy just about every one I see for sale (reasonably priced) for any gun I have. I find them to be the most comfortable and concealable holster that I have ever used.

When I began my career with the State of NC in 1979 I was issued a Model 66-1 two and one half inch and a Roy Baker pancake holster to carry it in.

 

[rednichols]

My 1976 dated Roy Baker's Pancake Holsters catalog gives only model numbers-175,275 etc. up to 775 and the standard model 271. No size codes listed.
The introduction refers to Roy's teacher- " perhaps the greatest leather artisan in America's history." What do you bet Red knows who that is ?
Regards,
turnerriver

For the OP: there were several 'eras' of the Baker pancake, and so I expect that markings varied between/amongst them. One tells them apart by the Baker maker's mark. Roy sold up circa 1980 on a high, died 1990 (Jim Buffaloe said that Roy drank and womanised himself to death).

'Perhaps the greatest leather artisan in America's history'. Don't know who that was. To guess -- I love to try to figure things out -- would require us to work out if this was literally true (someone like F.O. Baird who worked for Myres) or hyperbole meant to make Roy look good (like the posts we see on forums when someone receives the finest holster they've ever seen).

I couldn't work out any reasonable view that Roy studied with Floyd Baird (who indeed was a leather engraving teacher/master) eventually I decided his statement was not to be taken literally (such as 'artisan').

Roy was an Arkansas boy born around 1920, married WWII (likely he served) and lived at that time in Fort Smith, AR. He shifted from AR late '50s and ended up in the holster business. Died, as said, around 1990.

Know who else did all those things, at exactly the same time in exactly the same place? Andy Anderson. Though there's nothing about the pancake, an admittedly brilliant invention, that suggests an Anderson influence. Andy was a trained artist and was at his peak around 1970; that ended in 1971 when both the Sylmar quake destroyed Andy's shop and the Baker patent was filed (coincidence). Strokes then put an end to Andy's career in '74. A silent homage to Andy would have been relevant at just that period.

Plausible.

 

[rednichols]

P.S. Did all that deducing and 'math'; and whilst cleaning up some historical files, ran across the catalogue page that turnerriver referred to (mine is held as 1977 because it's No. 7).

Read in its entirety, Baker's homage refers to having a dream 30 years prior to equal his teacher, and refers to holsters in specific. That would be 1946/47; Andy was discharged 1945 after WWII and returned to Fort Smith, opening Anderson's Saddlery as Warren F. Anderson (his true name) that is operating in 1955. Baker was in Fort Smith those very years, though the holster fame for Andy would've come much later in the 1960s (after he developed Arvo Ojala's set, then his own plus more) by which time Baker was a heat treater in Chicago until his patent issued 1973.

Confirmed. Would've been easier with the full quote from the page . Usual prize?

 

[rednichols]

A nearly complete hijack of the OP's thread. Sorry!

I emailed my friend Bob Arganbright, who has long been Andy Anderson's unofficial biographer. He said (paraphrasing), "Oh yeah. Didn't you know Andy and Roy were best buddies after working together post-War?".

Geez. Double confirmed.