Artifact - US 1910/1 Officers stirrups

[Todd]

Found these photos of some rather unusual RIA-made officers stirrups, which are very likely missed by most collectors. Between the Whitman officers saddles and their heavy nickel stirrups, and the M1912 officers saddles and their iron stirrups, there was a brief window where there was another pattern.

I've seen a hint to this 'new pattern' in some quartermaster drawings, but I'm still looking for better information. Suffice it to say, the M1912 knife-edge stirrups used with the M1912 equipment set, and the later McClellan artillery models, were patterned on this earlier officers stirrup.

To the layman's untrained eye, this is just a normal looking M1912 knife-edge stirrup, perhaps with a slightly less tall overall height. I had this particular pair for years before I cleaned some old paint off one of them, and noticed a RIA stamp with a 1911 date. It was then I really did a side-by-side comparison, and noted the other big telltale feature of this rarity. The second photo shown is from the top, and illustrates the top of the knife edge being 'centered'. M1912's have a vertical outside surface, where the top edge slant down to the center hole of the tread.

m1912_treads.gif (1.58 KiB) Viewed 1564 times

1911stirrup1.jpg (16.8 KiB) Viewed 1629 times

1911stirrup2.jpg (9.63 KiB) Viewed 1629 times

Take a closer look at those old dime-a-dozen '1912 stirrups', and perhaps one day you'll be rewarded with some rare iron!