Antique Western Sterling 14K Yellow Gold Belt Buckle /w Two Stays for sale in Mountain View, CA
Antique Western Sterling 14K Yellow Gold Belt Buckle /w Two StaysThis beautiful handmade antique sterling silver belt buckle with yellow 14k decorations was crafted by the Keyston Bros. of San Francisco, California.This three piece set is in excellent condition, never modified or repaired.-Handmade western Belt Buckle Set /w two sterling stays.-Material: Sterling silver /w 14k ornamentation.-Signed: Keyston Bros. of San Francisco California.-Circa: 1940s-Belt size: 3/4"Additional InformationKeyston Bros. Of San Francisco CaliforniaIn 1868, the effects of the gold rush and the "forty-niners" still lingered in San Francisco. A booming port and bustling city of 139,000 souls, The City struggled for respectability. On May 1 of that year James Keyston began Keyston Bros., a firm which today serves the furniture and transportation industries out of 21 locations and has sales of almost $40 million.James began making whips and lashes in the stable of his fathers home on Church Street in San Francisco. He purchased his leather sides from a local tannery and toiled that first week to produce his hand-braided whips and lashes. Beginning the following Monday, he traveled on foot from livery stable to livery stable and by nightfall had sold his entire weeks work and made enough money to buy leather for the next weeks production.OPEN freighters, stage coach drivers, teamsters and cattle ranchers were using Keyston bullwhips, black snakes, and drivers. James was establishing a reputation of quality at a fair price.In 1872, James was joined by his brother, William D. Keyston, and the firm expanded the line of whips to include buggy whips. As "W.D." gained familiarity with the fledgling business, he ran the factory while James took to the road. James would load the back of a red horse-drawn wagon with an assortment of whips and lashes and travel dusty roads to logging camps, small towns, trading posts, and the headquarters of the large California ranches.In time, two sons of the founder, James Jr. and Albert (Bert), were hired and, not to be favored, started as delivery boys at the rate of $5.00 per week. The Spanish-American War provided several lucrative contracts for Keyston Bros. and as the company grew, the two young brothers began to expand Keyston sales territories outside California, including Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and the Hawaiian Islands. Today, Keyston numbers among its satisfied customers descendants of those proprietors whose accounts were established in those early days.Following World War I, saddlery and harness-makers fell on hard times and while some went under, some were purchased by Keyston Bros., who remained strong and profitable. As the company entered the twenties, Fred Keyston toyed with the production of toy leather holsters with scraps from the harness and saddlery operations. OPEN this became the largest contributor to the Keyston business and extended Keyston Bros. operations to every state in the union
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