Trial With Error: Heiser's Catalogues from 1950 - End

Everything at Heiser went all to hell with its acquisition by famed Keyston Bros in 1950, which company was founded by the son of Hermann Heiser's original partner mid-19th century when he moved West from New York state to Colorado. Samuel Keyston absconded, said Hermann, while he was away from CO and and he took up a position as master whipmaker (he was English-trained) at California's Main and Winchester, itself famous for collectible gunleather that is always the 'California Pattern' aka the 'Slim Jim'.

It went to hell because Keyston Bros' plan was to become the largest maker/supplier of toy holster sets for the 1950s movie and TV consumer including yours truly. Their sets are the most ornamented of all such sets and today highly collectible; even more so than the cap guns themselves. I have a handsome double set with Roy Rogers capguns in my closet (keep them out of the light or they'll darken badly). It appears that Heiser was pressed into service to fill demand which was huge.

KB started out earnestly enough by keeping just the Heiser name on its catalogues. Then in 1952 the catalogues were called out as Heiser-Keyston (dunno why not Keyston-Heiser given the relationship), then by '59 the name change again to Heiser-Keyston-Lichtenberger some years after the latter saddlery was acquired from a Heiser scion's widow (KIA WW2). The gunleather was seen less and less until 1968's anniversary catalogue (of Keyston, not Heiser, so you can see why one could be confused about just who was running the show there). We have more catalogues thereafter including when Keyston Bros moved to Las Vegas but there is no gunleather in them.

There is a logic to the numbering of Heiser catalogues 1895-1986 but it took Witty and me a LOT of noodling to work it out. Early on the numbers catalogues appeared every other year, then yearly, then changed to suit new owners, then changed again to suit Keyston's founding date. Never mind, we published a chart in our book "Holstory -- Gunleather of the 20th Century" and below is the most recent (as we discovered more and more of them). Also correct: the book Packing Iron but we did not draw from it; rather confirmed from it.

To read more about it all in my book titled "Holstory -- Gunleather of the Twentieth Century

-- the Second Edition", click on the new link at top of page.