Circa 1949 Captain A.H. Hardy Catalog No. 50 flyer

The second is a copy of a circa 1949 Catalog No. 50. It is not known of date and frequency of these flyer publications, although it can be assumed, based on the two flyers pictured that it was at least a minimum of one per year. The circa 1949, 4-page copy was obtained from a noted publisher of rare catalogs and flyers and is also presented herein. The original circa 1949 flyer was copied from a descendant of A.H. Hardy with some additional history, some new and old information, provided by that descendent and is presented below. Yet more background materiel or history is presented on the first page of the flyer.

I am a descendant of A.H. Hardy (Albert Howard Hardy) he was known as Bert by family. My mother has spoken of him for years. I also inherited a .22 from my father. I am very interested in acquiring a A.H. Hardy holster for the 22. A.H. (Capt.) Hardy was a world famous sharpshooter and was a pallbearer for Buffalo Bill Cody, in Denver Colorado. He began learning leatherwork in Omaha Nebraska at the age of 17. Wherever he lived he always had his leather shop with him, making saddles, holsters, purses, anything leather. In Beverly Hills he worked with the studios as a technical director and teaching actors how to shoot. Actors he worked with included Tom Mix, Fred Stone, Clark Gable, William S. Hart, Andy Devine, Fred MacMurray and others. He also made custom holsters for them. In the 1935 movie Annie Oakley his daughter Kathryn did the shooting for Barbara Stanwick, who played Annie, and Hardy for Preston Foster who played Toby Walker.

The actual Beverly Hills mailing address is part of the first page of each flyer background information of A.H. Hardy and is identified to be Capt. A.H. Hardy, 513 N. Arden Drive, Beverly Hills where he purportedy made holsters in a shop in his garage.^[1] Additionally, as part of the A.H. Hardy leather product flyers, his leather products were also offered through dealers as both flyers state: Individuals who cannot obtain my goods from their dealer can get them from me direct. Pictured for comparison are the circa 1939 Catalog No. 30 and circa 1949 Catalog 50 holster page ads.

The 8½ x 11-inch, 4-page flyers, when new were apparently folded in thirds as indicated by traces of creases in the copies, possibly for mailing. The holsters pictured are mostly for revolvers, making the three featured A.H. Hardy Luger holsters extremely rare.

As for the 1949 date of the one flyer, A.H. Hardy (1876 – 1950) was 74 years old and died a year later, subsequently, this was possibly his last flyer.