{"product_id":"basketweave-tooled-leather-double-magazine-pouch-divided-interior-with-three-position-snap-belt-loop-american-duty-leather-c-1950-1990","title":"Basketweave-Tooled Leather Double Magazine Pouch, Divided Interior with Three-Position Snap Belt Loop, American Duty Leather, c. 1950–1990","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA formed leather belt pouch, thick, dark and built to be worn hard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe body is a proper box — moulded to shape rather than folded flat — with a domed front and rounded corners, sitting on a flat stitched back panel that extends past it on every side. The stitching is close, even and run right around the perimeter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe front and sides are covered edge to edge in \u003cstrong\u003ebasketweave stamping\u003c\/strong\u003e: the interlocking woven grid struck into damp leather one impression at a time with a hand stamp and a mallet, each cell overlapping its neighbour. A scalloped border stamp closes off the panel along both long edges.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe mouth opens at the top, and inside the pouch is \u003cstrong\u003edivided down the middle\u003c\/strong\u003e by a leather partition into two side-by-side compartments — which is what tells you what it was built to carry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eOn the back, a wide leather belt strap runs vertically, fastened by \u003cstrong\u003ethree snap studs set in a row\u003c\/strong\u003e. Unsnap it and the pouch comes off a belt without unthreading anything; the three positions let it close over different belt widths.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe leather has gone a deep oxblood-brown with a hard polish on the high points, and there is a faint impressed script mark on the back panel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe divided interior is the identification.\u003c\/strong\u003e Two narrow compartments side by side, in a box pouch of exactly this depth, is a \u003cstrong\u003edouble magazine pouch\u003c\/strong\u003e — built to carry two spare pistol magazines upright on a duty belt, one to each side of the partition, where they can be found by feel without looking down. Nothing else is shaped quite like it: a cartridge pouch is open and undivided, a speedloader case has round cups, a handcuff case is deeper and wider.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBasketweave is the signature of American duty leather.\u003c\/strong\u003e From the middle of the twentieth century it was one of the two standard finishes on police and sheriff's belt gear — the other being plain black — and it spread from there into ranch, hunting and Western goods. The reason is practical rather than decorative: a stamped surface hides scuffs, holds a finish, and gives grip in the hand where a smooth panel does not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe stamping is real hand work. Each cell is one strike into cased leather, aligned by eye off the cell before it, and on a panel this size that is several hundred strikes. Sight along the rows and they drift very slightly. That drift is the proof it was struck rather than pressed out in a single hit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe three-snap strap is the detail worth knowing. Duty belts are loaded, stripped and rearranged constantly, and a sewn-shut loop means taking every other item off the belt to move one. A snap loop comes off where it sits, and three studs rather than one give it a range of belt widths and a spare if a snap wears out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eNow the mark, stated precisely. \u003cstrong\u003eThere is a faint impressed script mark on the upper back panel\u003c\/strong\u003e — a curved, handwritten-looking stamp struck into the leather. It has been worn and burnished down by years against a belt and \u003cstrong\u003eit is not legible enough to read a name from\u003c\/strong\u003e. No model number, size marking or other stamp appears anywhere on the face, the sides, the strap or inside. The pouch is offered \u003cstrong\u003eunattributed\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eDuty leather of this kind was made by a number of American firms, most of whom marked their work on the back exactly where this mark sits. Dated on the tooling, the moulded construction, the snap hardware and the wear: \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1950–1990\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n    \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n    \u003ctbody\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDouble magazine pouch — a belt-mounted duty-leather case with a divided interior for two spare pistol magazines\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOrigin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAmerican duty-leather tradition. Unattributed — an impressed script mark is present on the back panel but is worn beyond legibility.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDecoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eHand-struck basketweave stamping to the front and sides within a scalloped border stamp\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eConstruction\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMoulded box body stitched to a flat back panel, with a full-length leather partition dividing the interior into two compartments; wide belt strap to the reverse secured by three snap studs in a row, allowing removal from a belt without unthreading and adjustment for belt width\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eHeavy vegetable-tanned leather with steel snap hardware\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eA faint impressed script mark to the upper back panel, worn and not legible. No other marking.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1950–1990. Dated on the tooling, the moulded construction and the hardware.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eVery good and fully serviceable, with honest carry wear. The leather is supple with no cracking, splitting, dryness or delamination, the moulded body holds its shape, and the interior partition is sound. All stitching is intact with no loose or broken thread apart from a few short stray ends at the mouth. Every snap is present and snaps home firmly. The basketweave is crisp and complete across the whole face with no rubbed-flat areas. \u003cstrong\u003eExpect the darkening and hard polish that comes from years of being worn\u003c\/strong\u003e — deepest at the high points of the tooling and along the strap — plus light scuffing to the back panel and minor edge wear. No repairs and no added holes. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n  \u003c\/table\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThis is working leather, and working leather earns its keep by still working. On a belt the two compartments take whatever pairs up — spare magazines, a folding knife and a multitool, a phone and a battery, two flashlights, a tape and a marker — and the snap strap means it goes on and comes off in about two seconds without disturbing anything else on the belt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eOff the belt it is a good desk or dresser object. The moulded box shape stands up on its own, the divider keeps two things apart, and it will hold pens and scissors, watches and change, keys and a pocketknife, or cards and cash.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe basketweave is the reason to take this one over a plain pouch. Several hundred hand strikes went into that face, the rows drift the way only hand work drifts, and the colour is something no new piece of leather has — a deep oxblood with a polish that only comes from being carried for years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA note on care. \u003cstrong\u003eDo not soak it and do not put it near heat.\u003c\/strong\u003e Wet leather that dries fast goes hard and cracks, and a radiator, a heat vent or a car dashboard will do it in a season. If it gets wet, blot it and let it dry slowly at room temperature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eClean it with a barely damp cloth and, if it needs more, a dedicated saddle soap worked in lightly and wiped off. Feed it once or twice a year with a neutral leather conditioner or a light oil, applied thinly — heavy oiling darkens leather permanently and softens it past the point where it holds a moulded shape, which on a formed pouch is the whole structure. \u003cstrong\u003eKeep conditioner off the snap hardware\u003c\/strong\u003e, and use no silicone spray or shoe polish, which build a film on tooled leather and fill in the stamping.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eStore it out of direct sun, which fades and dries leather faster than anything else, and stuff it lightly with paper for long storage so the box keeps its shape.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48037536006249,"sku":"VE-0690","price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/3AB049AF-3480-47BD-9159-35152545B693.jpg?v=1789100114","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/basketweave-tooled-leather-double-magazine-pouch-divided-interior-with-three-position-snap-belt-loop-american-duty-leather-c-1950-1990","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}