This holster was included when I bought a used S&W Chiefs Special from a local gun store a few years ago; I was too lazy to dig that particular revolver out of the safe for these photos so I just used my carry S&W Centennial. Will I ever use this holster for daily carry? Nope, it is just a cherished collectable from a different era ... from a time when some lawmen (Bill Jordan, Tom Threepersons, et al) and some common-folks preferred holsters that kept a handgun's trigger exposed.
I tell ya, it's a darling little speed scabbard.
How old is this holster? Well, golly ... it's hard to say with any certainty. The S&W Chief's Special first came to be in 1950 and the S. D. Myres Holsters of El Paso closed its doors in 1969 ... that's a window of possibilities that spans 19-years ... the broadest answer is that this holster is somewhere between 50-years-old and 69-years-old (same answer that I give to folks wanting to know how old I am). To narrow it down would take some sleuthing. In the above photo, just below the makers mark and just above the stitching there looks to be a number tattooed into the leather ... maybe "476" ... Myres catalogs did use designated model numbers ... copies of old Myres catalogs still exist ... there is a (perhaps remote) possibility of finding a catalog that was published when this J-frame holster (with a near or matching look) was first offered.
