German, Mid-19th Century, Prussian Navy Marked Holster & Spare Cartridge Pouch, 1851 Colt Navy Pistol
This item is listed for historical interest only. It was listed on our site previously but has been sold and is no longer available for purchase.
Sold for: $595.00

Original era manufacture. This is an interesting German made holster, with a great story regarding how the Prussian Navy acquired it's first repeating pistol.Prussian customs officials inspecting a cargo of cotton shipped from New York-Amsterdam-Russia,was foundto contain 3,000 M1851 Colt Navy revolvers, completewithpowder flasks, nipple wrenchesand bullet molds, all packed carefullyin cotton bales. These weaponswere seized by the Prussian authorities and held as contraband.Despite the efforts by Samuel Colt to retrieve his confiscated property, the pistolswere never returned to him; instead a number of the them were issued to the tiny Prussian Navy and with the remainder sold at auction.As they were seizedwithout an accompanying holster, the Prussians designed one themselves, thisholsteris the pattern they came up with.Brown leather open top holster with a brass securing stud for the top strap, on the body, an elongated narrow pouch for the capping tool, and on the side a square shaped pouchfor a spare cylinder or box of cartridges.Brown bridle leather construction, with sound stitching throughout, the elongated pouch on the body has a hole as shown, and another smaller hole towards the bottom of the pouch. There is an iron reinforcing edge which encompasses the top opening of the holster; at one time this was covered with thin leather, this leather covering is now gone. On the top of the securing strap is a Crown-M stamp and a serial number of 201. No issues with the spare ammunition pouch. Overall the leather is quite sound, the holster is not crushed and it has not been heavily oiled. Fromourown collection, and offered at less than my cost. Oh well. *Please note, the pistol is not included in the price, shown only for illustrative purposes.