What Do the Old West's Holsters Look Like? They're All Wyeths

Wyeth, of St. Joseph Missouri, was situated to capture the purchases of wagon trains flowing west in the mid 19th century. By the end of that century the company had a saddlery that was the largest in the world by employing 500 men. It specialised in making gunleather for catalogue retailers and so their own name was rarely on the goods, and often the retailer's name (or other saddlery's) would be stamped on it. Sold only by the dozen, per model and size!

Enough Wyeths that DO have their name on them, and Wyeth catalogues with matching images, have survived that we know a Wyeth when we see one.

I use reasonably logical categories for Wyeths but admit they may seem arbitrary. Below I refer to as 'cuffed'; i.e., they have a leather cuff 'round the holster body very much like Brills' cuffs. However a Brill's cuff is an engineered device that forms the lower portion of the belt loop tunnel, whereas a 'cuffed' holster simply allows a very, very wide scout belt or mills belt to be used (3" wide typically). This change in width was brought about by metallic rifle cartridges esp. the 45/70 of the early 1870s. Below the holsters are "Olives" vs cuffed (the straps around the holster were created by slitting the fender behind the holster, and not a separate piece):

General comment: the file names that I've used are so-named to force a certain sorting of them that keeps like-with-like for comparison purposes. Those that are "jpgs" are named to keep them separate from those that are "pngs"; otherwise my computer mixes them up which is confusing for research purposes.

WYETH 'CUFFED' HOLSTERS:

WYETH 'OLIVE PATTERN' HOLSTERS:

An "Olive" is a pattern or style, and not a patent, and the origin of the name is uncertain because it's not an inventor's name (no such patent). An Olive has a fender folded behind the holster pocket like a 'cuffed' holster but the holster pocket is held to the fender by it being inserted through loops formed by slits in the fender. Its attribution to Mexico seems unlikely with the best-known maker being those in the U.S.A.'s Territories that are far from that border, and the largest maker being up there, too; in Missouri (Wyeth):

WYETH FLAP HOLSTERS:

Notice that especially with the flap holsters there are many brand names shown on their fronts. But for example, "Royal" appears to be Wyeth's name for a particular line vs for another seller such as a mail order retailer. So when for another company, the title of the image is "wyeth for iver johnson" for example; when for a line, Wyeth Royal is the image name.

Be aware that the move away from flap holsters was caused by the appearance of metallic cartridge pistols such as 1873's Colt Single Action Army 7-1/2" long barrel (thought of as the cavalry model) that the Texas Rangers used in that decade, and not a desire for fast draw. By the end of the century the Rangers had switched to the much shorter Frontier barrel length that was 4-3/4" (the end of the ejector rod housing) that was better suited to carry while concealed in Brills in Texas cities (weapons not allowed on display, and especially not wide rifle cartridge looped belts; Brills were created to be worn on the then-new trousers belts (1905).)

Wyeth also had an extensive range of 'open top' holsters; I've added all that I have:

And shoulder holsters including spring types and for Red Head Brand especially. Notice Wyeth's characteristic chain stitch which was not used by other makers (because Wyeth used thin leathers so the chain stitch was suitable, while real saddlers of the 20th century used lockstitch harness machines for their very thick leathers):