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94

S.F. Cody’s Fancy California Holster Rig

Currency:USD Category:Antiques Start Price:1,750.00 USD Estimated At:3,500.00 - 4,500.00 USD
S.F. Cody’s Fancy California Holster Rig
A finely tooled holster with the scarce mark of Walker & Wade - San Francisco. The front was custom tooled S.F. Cody. Fits a Colt Single Action. Started life as a longer holster and skirt and has been trimmed for a 4 3/4” barrel. Holster is kidskin lined and has great light color. Belt is a 3” wide money / cartridge type belt, with .45 cal. loops. Also with nice color and condition. Billet has been moved. Samuel Franklin Cody (1867–1913) Texan (?), cowboy, Wild West showman, pioneer aviator, a larger than life character, the founder of aviation and manned flight within England. Sam Cody straddles two continents, two eras. The Wild West of America, where he rode the same cattle trails as Buffalo Bill, played the same roulette tables in Dodge City as Wyatt Earp, and competed with Annie Oakley at sharp shooting; the early aviation days shared with the Wright Brothers that were the foundation of today's aviation industry and led to Farnborough being synonymous with flying. The details of Samuel Franklin Cody’s early life from the age of thirteen, when it is known he was still attending school in Davenport, Iowa, until 1888 when, at the age of twenty one he was working and traveling with Adam Forepaugh’s Circus and Wild West show are, as yet, unknown. In that same year, during a visit to Norristown, Pennsylvania, he met the young brunette Maud Maria Lee. The pair kept in touch with each other after the show had moved on and when, in the spring of the following year, it returned, Cody and Maud were married. By this time the Cowdery surname had been replaced by ‘Cody Jnr’ and the profession stated on his wedding certificate was ‘sharp shooter and cowboy and pistol shot’, He claimed that his name was Samuel Franklin Cody (adopting the surname of the famous Wild West Showman Buffalo Bill Cody) and that he was born in Birdville, Texas, in March 1861 to Samuel Franklin Cody Sr. and his wife, Phoebe. According to Sam, his father was a hero of the Texan and Mexican War and had served as an officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He claimed his family were victims of a Sioux Indian attack. Whilst he, himself had escaped with only a gunshot wound to his thigh, he could only crawl away and watch as the family farm burned. In some accounts his whole family perished, in others his parents and sister survived, and sometimes his family was not mentioned at all. After he had crawled 9 miles to Fort Worth Military Hospital and had his wound treated, he decided to strike out on his own on the Western Frontier, where he worked as a horse-trader and cowboy. Maud joined Cody in his act and together they toured America. In one newspaper article they were described as ‘The greatest living revolver shots. Breaking balls held in each others mouth and equally difficult shots, using .45 caliber revolvers.’ In June 1890 Cody sailed for England and Maud followed shortly after. The first mention of Cody in England was at a theatre in St. Helens and shortly afterwards they both appeared in Glasgow advertised as ‘The Champion Pistol Shots of the World’. During the next few years Cody and his wife found work in music halls both giving displays of trick shooting. Perhaps their most unusual performance was given at the Olympia Skating Rink in a ‘Burlesque of the Wild West’, performed on roller skates. The couple were often billed as ‘Captain Cody, son of the great Buffalo Bill and his sister’. Public Record Office documents describe how, in June 1891 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Company and William Frederick Cody took S. F. Cody’s agent to court to stop him using the terms ‘son of Buffalo Bill’ and ‘Wild West Show’.
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