American Commercial Luger Holsters: Shapleigh Hardware
- Luger holster for 3-5/8" or 98mm barrel, example 1
- Luger holster for 3-5/8" or 98mm barrel, example 2
Luger holster for 3-5/8" or 98mm barrel, example 1
Pictured below is a closed toe, full cover flap holster of an unknown leather maker with an originally baked brown enamel convex surface, brass cover flap snap fastener with the word DIAMOND superimposed or embossed over a raised diamond pattern with rays emanating from the edges . The full cover flap and holster borders have a light, floriated design and the holster rear has an angled, narrow belt loop attached by a pan-faced steel rivet at the bottom, folded over at the top, secured by stitching. The holster is well used, made with medium thickness brown leather for a 4-inch barrel commercial Luger. That the holster was used for long term storage of a Luger is evidenced by impressions left of the square faced toggle knobs and a fluted thumb safety.
These old style, early pre-WW1 design snap fasteners were utilized by the Shapleigh Hardware Company for this particular Luger holster, a very old company that was in business from the late 1800's to about the 1930's, (1843 – 1930) who had made and/or offered holsters in their catalogs. Pictured are two Shapleigh catalog covers, 1918, and 1928, with their Diamond logo prominently featured on the catalog covers. In addition to the pictured Shapleigh Hardware Company catalog covers, there was only one page available for this article, page 170, advertising a single Shapleigh offered holster, however, the page 170 pictured holster is enough to establish the commonality of the edge pattern floriated design to the subject Shapleigh holster. Furthermore, there is no doubt that Shapleigh did advertise holsters and guns, as there are other period hardware companies that also advertised holsters and even Lugers for sale. An example being a 1909 Pacific Hardware & Steel Company 6000 plus page catalog, of which, interestingly, Pacific Hardware was a smaller company than Shapleigh, advertised Lugers on page 4043, Luger ammunition on page 4061 (enlarged view), and holsters, specifically, for the Luger on page 4092, Item No. 1304 with a text description for a Luger with a 4½ (actually 4¾)-inch barrel.
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Luger holster for 3-5/8" or 98mm barrel, example 2
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