19TH CENTURY SADDLER MADE 12 GAUGE
SHOTGUN CARTRIDGE BELT –EARLY BELT IN EXCELLENT
CONDITION – GREAT FOR DISPLAY WITH EARLY US MARTIAL AND
LAW ENFORCEMENT SHOTGUNS: Made in the same
manner as the early “Fair Weather Christian Belts” worn
throughout the West, this 12 Gauge Shotgun Cartridge
Belt was likely produced on the bench of a frontier
saddle shop.
Fashioned from a 2 ¼” wide woven strap which is very
similar to, and very likely is, a piece of strapping a
saddler would use to build a girth. Riveted along the
center line of the woven strapping is a 1” wide leather
strap which forms the 20 loops for the shotgun
cartridges. The belt body is 34 ½” long. The leather
loop strap extends past the last loop on each end – on
one end for the buckle and standing loop, and on the
other to form the billet for buckling, resulting in a
full length of 41” – plenty long enough to buckle over a
pistol belt or a heavy coat. The both the belt body and
the loop strap are in excellent condition, showing some
signs of use in the form of mild soiling, but no
fraying, no broken loops, and the leather retains a nice
shiny surface. The ends of the belt body are nicely
finished with a sewn strip of glove weight leather to
prevent the ends from unraveling or fraying.
This is an attractive belt, very likely made on the
frontier which has survived in excellent condition and
which would display appropriately with any of the double
barrel shotguns in use on the frontier, and well as some
of the early slide action shotguns. (0305) $375
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