Imperial Navy Holster
 

Imperial Navy holster after visiting Jerry Burney's Magic Shop.

Nice supple leather, no dryness or rot.

Good manufacturer's mark "LOH Sohne Act. Ges. Berlin". No date.

Crown/M on inside of lid.

Thanks Jerry!!!

Bill

Typical excellence from the maestro.

Tom A

Thanks Bill, Tom.
As Imperial Navy holsters go.. this one was a real find! Bill was fortunate enough to find this on a popular auction site and we collaborated on it's restoration.

It came to us as a body and top with most of the small parts missing. As Bill says.. the body & top are in excellent shape, supple with no flaking. This is unusual for an original Imperial Navy.

I made & installed the interior tool pouch, making the brass stud & washer and hand hammering it in.
The pull-up strap knot was hand tied.
The top to the rod sleeve was made & installed.
The stock block restored and ready to attach to a stock.

This holster had been period converted to belt loops, removing the stock block and stitching on two straps.

At the start I thought some labor could be saved by leaving some original stitching in place but on further thought I decided to replace every stitch in this holster.

One of the great things about German holsters is their stitch spacing is usually wide apart but the Saddler who made this holster didn't get the message! I rarely see such tight close stitching..there must be thousands of stitches in this. Most of them in the cleaning rod sleeve.

This is truely an example of what collectors do...salvage and restore a rare piece of history for posterity.

Congratulations Bill! Imperial Navy holsters are indeed a rare find.....

Jerry Burney

Great job, looks beaut'!

Very nice work Jerry

Imperial Navy Holster
 

Picture of Navy Holster after Jerry had taken it apart. He's good!

Bill, This photo was taken before I decided to remove the rod sleeve completely.

Interesting thing to see here..the back panel is the ONLY part the Germans ever glued on a German Luger holster. Everything else was put in place & sewed on without a fixitive.

This photo was a heck of a lot of stitches ago!

Jerry Burney

Bill, when I see your holster I think that I should also collect Navy leather stuff..Congratulations !
christian

Bill, could we see additional photos of the restored holster, the back in particular?

Skilled restoration, whether of leather metal or wood, is IMHO almost an art form that few people have the talent or patience to do. We are fortunate to have Jerry as well as others here with the talent to help preserve history.

Charlie

It would be nice to see photos of the stock!
Thank´s Klaus

Imperial Navy Holster
 

Charlie: Back of the Navy holster - originally had stock block, then period replacement belt loops. I elected to go back to the stock block, which Jerry did.

Klaus
I wish I had one. Looking for a good repro. Thanks Bill

Hi Bill , That is a beautiful holster and I think you made a very wise decision to go back to the original stock block.

Leo

I keep telling you guys... that we need to get someone local to Jerry to get over to his house and work there for FREE to apprentice his skills... It is truely a lost art... except for Jerry of course!

Great work Jerry!

Congrats Bill!

Once Bill gets a nice Odin stock on there it will cover most of the belt loop holes and will go back to what this fine holster was intended for, a short rifle!

Klaus, I will see if I can find time to photograph the 2 original Imperial navy stocks I have.

I bought my first one 15 years ago for the price of a good used car...If I remember correctly from Joe Wotka off an ad in NAPCA magazine before the internet! The second one I ever saw for sale I bought from my good Friend Tom Armstrong with the help of George Anderson at last years Chantilly show. Thanks Guys! It too was not cheap but when I got it home it is approximately 100 numbers off from my first one!

Holsters are extremely rare but are a dime a dozen compared to original stocks.

It takes time to find Imperial Navy items..I am glad I started many years ago...

Thanks to all of you for the laudatory comments. I always am pleased when people who know what they are looking at appreciate it.

John, This subject has come up more than once...I guess like my predecessor.. Frank DeMauro... I will someday go on to my reward. I am hoping I will get to see many more holsters before that. I took it up because I was interested in holsters, was already making replica Luger lanyards and Tom Armstrong asked me to do it.
An apprentice? Not likely. A person more or less falls into his passion because he is involved in someway. A person who wants to fly hangs out at the airport.

This work will not make you rich. Only labor by the hour. It is hard and dirty. It is lonely. I spend many hours indoors by myself listening to music. It is extremely time consuming...You must structure your time and work even when it is mind numbingly boring. It is repeticious. Hand stitching miles of holes day after day. Hard on your hands, pulling thread, using a sharp knife all day long. I also spend many hours a week communicating with clients about the work they need.

The exciting part is when I get a rare holster like Bill's that intrigues me and stirrs my passion. I want to see it come back to life! Like a good book I couldn't put it down. In fact most holsters I restore give me a great deal of pleasure to see them right again.

Back to work!

Jerry Burney


Anyone want to apply?



Jerry Burney

If you havn't ever had a holster repaired/restored by Jerry it's hard to truly appreciate his work. His attention to detail and correctness is amazing. He is as good or better than the best saddler back when. And that's saying a lot. Bill

I just received my '36 holster from Jerry this week. Beautiful work. :bowdown: It certainly is an art form!

Jerry, in those days the holster production were they made by hand stiching or by machines?
Maybe you can give us a few hints how they were made please.;)

Alf.

Alf, They were primarily made on sewing machines. I find certain operations that had to have been partially machine then tied off by hand. I would surely give something to be able to go back in time to see it exactly. All I can tell is from what they did when I take apart a holster...

Jerry Burney

Bill, great holster and Jerry, great work!!!
My Loh Söhne Navy holster was altered for a Weimar Navy Luger with 4" barrel.
It still got it´s Imperial stamps and the Weimar stamps.