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Odd 1911 holster help needed


Ndhunter1887
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Ndhunter1887

I bought this at a flee market today and it looked old and that’s the reason I bought oddly it says (WS) instead of u.s it has a very old look to it so I’m not thinking it is a repop.

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Charlie Flick

N:

 

That is indeed a very odd M1916 holster.  It was made by Harpham Brothers so it is of WW2 vintage. 

 

The puzzler is the WS mark on the flap.  I have never seen that before.  I have seen other markings on the flaps of M1916 holsters, mostly related to State Guard or militia formations.   I speculate that the WS might refer to Washington State, which formed the Washington State Guard during WW2 to defend the state after the Federalization of the Washington National Guard.   That is only a guess, however.  Although it is in rough condition it is an interesting piece.

 

Regards,

Charlie

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Ndhunter1887
1 hour ago, Charlie Flick said:

N:

 

That is indeed a very odd M1916 holster.  It was made by Harpham Brothers so it is of WW2 vintage. 

 

The puzzler is the WS mark on the flap.  I have never seen that before.  I have seen other markings on the flaps of M1916 holsters, mostly related to State Guard or militia formations.   I speculate that the WS might refer to Washington State, which formed the Washington State Guard during WW2 to defend the state after the Federalization of the Washington National Guard.   That is only a guess, however.  Although it is in rough condition it is an interesting piece.

 

Regards,

Charlie

That would make sense I paid 35$ for it the pictures make it look worse than it actually is. It’s pretty decent shape I thought though obviously not anywhere near “nice” I actually almost left it at the flea market Beacuase it did not say U.S glad I didn’t! 

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Ndhunter1887

Thanks for the admin moving the forum to the correct place I figured it would be in field gear.

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I have a question:

What does the inside of the flap look like?

You should see the US from the interior as well.

 

What I'm curious about is that inside the oval looks like it has been monkeyed with, or tooled to some degree. If someone modified the exterior, they probably couldn't remove the reverse impression on the inside of the flap.

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Ndhunter1887

Here some pictures of the back, I want faintly make out a oval but no letters this holster has defiantly seen some use!

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Yup, you can see the "U" in your fist image.

Also note the is no indention like you see from the holster Robin posted, the holster in question has been pressed back flat.

It is my opinion that the holster in question once had "US" embossed on the flap. At sometime, it was pressed flat and tooled to be that of the "WS". Surely this WS holster was not factory embossed.

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Ndhunter1887
On 7/10/2020 at 4:10 PM, dustin said:

Yup, you can see the "U" in your fist image.

Also note the is no indention like you see from the holster Robin posted, the holster in question has been pressed back flat.

It is my opinion that the holster in question once had "US" embossed on the flap. At sometime, it was pressed flat and tooled to be that of the "WS". Surely this WS holster was not factory embossed.

Well thanks for your help I'd say your right or it as been very very worn so you cant see reverse stamping like the rest of the holster, Just weird to me that someone would take the time to put "ws" on it instead of buying a new holster.

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