Imperial Navy Holster

[lugerholsterrepair]

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