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WINCHESTER “BEAR HEAD” PLATE ON A MILLS .45
CALIBER LOOPED PISTOL CARTRIDGE BELT – EXCELLENT
SPECIMEN OF A RARE BELT SET: Certainly the most
popular of the Mills Woven Cartridge Belts made for the
civilian market; these “Bear Head” Winchester Looped
Cartridge Belts are well known and highly valued by
collectors today. Patented in 1881, and assigned to the
Winchester Repeating Arms Company by the designer, the
Bear Head plate was one of the first designs of the
unique series of plates for the famous Mills cartridge
belts. Although not selected for use by the US Army,
this plate with its distinctive design was apparently
quite popular. These plate and belt combinations saw
wide use on the American Frontier, and as a result are
most often encountered today in heavily used and worn
condition. The condition of both the Bear Head plate
and the belt, and that the belt was made for the .45
caliber pistol cartridge, makes this set a particularly
rare offering.
The Mills Woven Belt Company must have made these .45
caliber Looped Pistol Cartridge Belts in some quantity,
both for sale to the military and to civilian customers,
however today they are one of the rarest of the Mills
Woven Looped Cartridge Belts. Certainly far less common
than the Mills .38 caliber pistol cartridge belts, these
.45 caliber belts come to light at an estimated rate of
one .45 caliber belt for probably every 100 .38 caliber
belts, perhaps less frequently than that.
While the cartridge loops on this belt were originally
woven to accept the .45 caliber cartridge, and the .45
Colt cartridge case fits these cartridge loops, other
cartridges present on the frontier were similar in
diameter and the loops in this belt will accommodate
them very well. I have tried a number of different
cartridges, such as the .44-40 & .38-40 cartridges, as
well as the variety of .44 caliber pistol cartridges
such as .44 Colt, .44 S&W American and Russian, .44
Merwin & Hulbert, and the .45 S&W, and all of these will
fit in the cartridge loops. Of special note, these
loops will also accept the .44 Henry cartridges used in
the Henry and Winchester Model 1866 rifles and carbines,
so this belt would have been appropriate for those men
in the West who continued to hang on to those early
lever guns.
This pistol cartridge belt is in as close to “like new”
condition as you are likely to find. The belt plate and
catch – made of brass and plated in nickel – retain all
of the original nickel plating with none of the wear or
loss of plating normally seen on these sets. The Bear
Head stamping and the surrounding border are both very
legible and distinct. The matching catch retains the
Winchester manufacturing and patent data, all of which
is legible and complete.
The Mills Woven Looped Cartridge Belt is likewise in
excellent, clean condition, being full length with all
45 of the .45 caliber cartridge loops present and
intact, and the light colored canvas binding is present
and intact on both ends of the belt. The belt itself is
woven in what Mills identified as "stone" color – a
shade of tan. None of the cartridge loops are frayed or
worn and the belt is overall very clean and free of any
soiling.
Both ends of the body of the belt bear the remnants of
the ink stamped Mills maker stamp. These stamps
originally were relatively light and more often than
not, have not survived the passage of time at all. In
the case of these stamps, they are very faint but
knowing where they should be and what they are supposed
to look like makes it a little easier to discern.
The .45 caliber woven pistol belts made for use by the
military featured sets of grommets for attaching the
wire holster and sabre hangers. This belt has none of
those grommets, indicating it was intended for sale on
the commercial civilian market and is appropriate for
this Winchester belt plate.
In addition to being a rare pairing, the condition of
this specimen is notable, as so many of these Winchester
belts are found with frayed, torn or missing cartridge
loops and the plate with most of its nickel plating worn
away. The quality of this Winchester Bear Head Plate
and Mills Cartridge Belt set would nicely compliment a
fine Frontier related revolver or rifle. (0201)
$1550
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