Note the red paint. It was worn by a bold cavalier for certain!


  The three holes in the holster were made by the butt, the hammer and the barrel tip where it first contacted the holster when slipped in


  This has never been seperated, it is merely strengthened




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  The "ghost" of the leather can still be seen on the inside

The accoutrements shown here all came out of the woodwork[i] in December at the 2022 Franklin, Tennessee Civil War Show. The Richmond style belt, the Emerson Gaylord holster and the remarkable copy a an English cap pouch have clearly, clearly been together since the War. I say clearly because all three were originally painted red. I could realize significantly more profit by selling this one of a kind Confederate percussion cap box separately. But I have never broken up a group in more than thirty years of dealing in artifacts. I understand why others do it, and perhaps they need to, who am I to judge, but I never have, and God willing, never will.

This Richmond style belt is a thing of beauty, but it has some conservation. When the sword hangers were sewn on to a belt, the awl cuts away nearly half of the leather, so this is generally the weak place in a Richmond belt. Someone reinforced one stitch line on this belt long ago. I say long ago because the thin leather backing had created its own "ghost” at one of the hanger stitch lines. I reinforced it with modern conservation material and removed the old leather reinforcement. I also applied the material to the other stitch line to prevent a future problem. This leaves the belt as flexible as it was when it was new, and but for the extra stitch holes of the previous conservation, it looks unchanged. It is now safe to handle and display, but I would not recommend putting it on a mannequin.

The holster is of Federal production, but is no doubt the holster that goes with this rig. Long and hard usage is evident, but it is solid and pliable.

The cap box is truly remarkable; it is an extremely rare Confederate copy of the British percussion cap pouch and it is in excellent condition.

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