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SCARCE JACOB PATENT INSIDE
TROUSER SINGLE ACTION HOLSTER MADE BY R.C. FLICK OF
CUERO, TEXAS – MAKER MARKED - FOR A COLT SINGLE ACTION 5
½” BARREL LENGTH – VERY NICE SPECIMEN:
This is a very attractive specimen a scarce Barnhart
Jacob’s Patent Inside-Trouser Pistol Holster made at the
saddlery shop of R. C. Flick in Cuero, Texas. Probably
produced between 1885 and the early 1920’s, this holster
bears a completely legible maker’s stamp and the leather
retains the surviving imprint of the profile of a Colt
Single Action Revolver with a 5 ½” barrel.
Raymond C. Flick was born
on March 17, 1866, in Cuero, Texas (approximately an
hour SE of San Antonio) to parents who had emigrated
from Prussia. He owned and operated a very successful
saddlery shop in Cuero, and in his later years owned an
early automobile agency. He died on March 10, 1924 at
age 57 and is interred in the Hillside Cemetery in
Cuero.
According to a family
history written by Flick’s granddaughter, Forest F.
Kincaid, which was published on page 225 of Yoakum
Community, the First Hundred Years 1887-1987, in
1895, Raymond C. Flick founded the Flick Mercantile
Company in Yoakum, approximately 16 miles northeast of
Cuero. She wrote “[the mercantile]….where saddles were
made and sold, along with buggies, implements, and
hardware….” I suspect, given the proximity of the two
towns, and that as Flick’s employees were well
established with their own homes and families in Cuero,
he continued to produce his leather goods in the shop in
Cuero and the Yoakum shop provided him with an
additional retail outlet.
Mrs. Kincaid recorded that
upon Flick’s death in 1924, Alfred Frobese, Flick’s son
in law (and her father), became the manager of the firm
until his death in 1956 when the company was sold and it
became the Yoakum Hardware Company. She makes no
mention of the saddle shop in Cuero, which may mean
nothing more than the saddlery existed beyond her
childhood memories, or it may indicate that the saddle
shop was closed after Flick’s death.
The photograph below was
found in the University of Texas San Antonio Library
collection. It is identified as depicting the interior
of R.C. Flick Company saddle shop – taken in either
Cuero or Yoakum - and it is dated on the reverse
“1889”. Referencing Mrs. Kincaid’s family history and
her assertion that Flick’s Yoakum store was not
established until 1895, the date on this photograph
indicates it was taken in the Cuero saddle shop.
Unfortunately, the two men depicted in the photograph
are not identified, but it seems reasonable to assume
that one of them – probably the man on the left - is the
owner, Raymond Flick. Recognized as a town in 1873,
Cuero had already been a long established stopping point
on the southern extreme of the Chisholm Trail. Its
worthy of passing note that “Cuero” translates from
Spanish as “leather”, indicating the town was founded on
the very trade with which Flick made his fortune.
The Barnhart Jacob “Pistol
Holster” Patent Drawing, dated November 4, 1884, is
included on page 156 of E. Scott Meadow’s U.S. Military
Holsters and Related Accoutrements. Meadows includes
correspondence dated July 6, 1885 addressed to the Chief
of Ordnance which accompanied one of the Jacob Patent
Holsters that was being submitted for consideration by
the army, thus indicating the clips were available on
the market by that time.
Jacob’s holster design, as
shown in his patent drawing and incorporated into this
holster and other similar holsters featuring the Jacob
spring clip, presents as an open top holster in order
that the wearer would have unimpeded access to his
pistol. The holster body was intended to be slipped
between the trousers and the wearer’s body with the
spring clip securing the holster in place by engaging
the waist band of the trousers or snapping over a waist
belt if one was worn. The clip held the holster solidly
in place so that it wouldn’t slide laterally out of
position and the combined security of the clip and the
holster being pressed between the trousers and the body,
kept the pistol secure in the holster.
Utilizing the date of the
Jacob patent and its known availability on the market,
and the dates that Flick was operating his saddle shop
in Cuero, this holster can be dated fairly closely as
having been made between 1885 and 1924 when Flick died.
While its certainly possible that his saddlery shop in
Cuero, and the mercantile in Yoakum continued to offer
leather goods made by Flick’s employees under his
maker’s stamp well after his death, the style of the
holster and the surviving imprint of the profile of a
Colt Single Action Revolver in the leather, suggest this
holster dates to earlier in the span of that time frame
rather than later.
Measuring 8 ¾” long and 4
¼” at the widest extremity of the trigger guard swell,
this holster has survived in very good condition. The
stitching is fully intact and the Jacob’s belt clip for
mounting the holster inside the waist band of the
trousers is solidly attached and fully functional. The
leather is firm, not weakened from wear or oil soaking,
and the holster holds it full shape. As noted above,
the leather retains the surviving imprint of the profile
of a Colt Single Action Revolver with a 5 ½” barrel.
The leather has a bright shiny surface with no surface
loss, no scuffing, and only some very minor crazing
concentrated on where the leather was pressed over the
barrel. A previous owner inscribed his initials, “H M”
or “W H” on both sides of the holster.
This is a very attractive
holster, well maker marked from a recognized saddlery in
south Texas, and one that would be a very nice piece to
display with your Colt. (0905) $1500
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