What thoughtful gift! The cool thing will be is when someone asks  "where did you get that beautiful belt" and she proudly answers "my husband made it".

Have You tried the "Twist-draw" / "Cavalry-draw"...?
I think You will find that human joints, long-barreled pistols and the "butt-forward"-carry go together.
I've personally used it exclusively for years with twin 8" 1860's, 7,5" 1872 Open-Top's etc. shooting Double Duelist and/or Gunfighter.
The other alternative is to go "B-Western" with a low-slung Buscadero-rig.

I mean: James Butler Hickok can't be wrong...!!? 

This appears to have changed in 2021.  The mark is now simply the last two numbers of the year in a box.

I have seen that print of the older warrior.   It always reminds me of Wanderer, an old Anglo Saxon poem.   Tolkien used lots of pieces of it in Lord of the Rings, a line stands out that I understand the older I get.  "A man cannot become wise before he has a portion of winters in the kingdom of the world."

Was just going over my copies of the Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity. Lewis is one of my favorites.

I was planning on an intro section on knife fighting in my Guidebook on Lawmen and Desperadoes. I was basing it on the few known texts that actually covered the topic of properly using a knife in the American West.

-Dave

  None Of The Above   

Yep.  None of the above.  You all miss the actual reason for the 1886.

It's because 1885 didn't sound right and 1887 was already taken.    Likewise, 1889 just didn't have a "ring" to it.  Therefore, the 1886.  Ripley's

Stay Safe Out There

Coffin - yre asleep at the wheel mate - 1885 wuz already took too 

hey I saw the coolest 1885 - was on the last few days visiting friends in the Nebraska sandhills and one of the locals invited me around to see his collection (just a knockabout bloke that liked guns not a money man at all) had two tables of stuff laid out for me to look at maybe 15 old guns and other table of new stuff AR's n such

Had a rattly old colt SA with 7 notches filed (long time ago) in the ejector housing/tube - he'd dug it up out there someplace in the hills - my attention went straight to the 1885 SS - Granmaws rifle she bought it to bring out when they settled here from the east - whats calibre ? he says 32/20 - I looked again - hole in the end is right size - I sez no mate thats a 32/40 can we look? - this rifle was a full schutzen option - tang sight, hooked brass buttplate, palm rest, the works -we looked - sure nuff - 32/40 ------------Granmaw had shot dinner more than a few times with it and maybe she got it cheap of some dude back home - ole mate had left it alone but looked after it - bore was good for an old gun - never saw another like it (original 85's were pretty rare downunder)