2018 CLA Live Auction: Haversack by William Smith

This year the CLA Live Auction is offering one of Bill Smith’s popular haversacks.  This leather and herringbone weave hemp cloth version of Bill’s haversack is particularly attractive.

The haversack is approximately eleven inches by eleven inches.  The leather flap is a very dark brown as is the one and a half inch wide leather strap.  The bag is fully lined in duck cloth with two accessory pockets on the inside.  The Hemp cloth is almost black and the herringbone weave is distinctive.  Bill Smith’s precise stitching is decorative as well as functional.  The strap is equipped with a forged iron buckle.

Bill Smith is a perennial auction supporter with his hunting bags and haversacks. His auction donations have some unique features.  The hemp cloth really sets this haversack  off.

Bill may be contacted by email.
William Smith  wsmithblackpowder@windstream.net

Text by H Ahlers with photos by H Ahlers

2015 CLF Live Auction: Hunting Pouch by William Smith

Hunting Pouch by William Smith

The hunting pouch and horn are symbols of the American frontier. By the early 19th century you could tell a lot about a man by his pouch and horn, pouches showed distinct regional variations, wide ranges in quality from home made to finest cordwainers work, and variations in size and shape based on use. Bill Smith has donated a pouch representative of the professional quality bag made for frontier use.

Bill has donated a double bag of finely tanned deer skin with double internal compartments. This choclate brown leather bag exhibits very fine workmanship, an example of the best 1750 to 1850 cordwainer's art. The stitching is so well done as to be decorative in itself. Hand forged iron buckles and a woven strap complete the bag. The multiple compartments would serve the long hunter very well. It would also work equally well for the organized match shooter or the packrat like myself.

Bill Smith is a long time CLA member and a regular supporter of the CLA auction and has a fine display of his bags at the annual CLA meeting. Bill has been making bags for over 20 years and they are very popular with re-enactors and shooters alike. 

If you are the winner of this bag at the auction you will have a unique style Bill Smith bag that will serve you, and probably your grandchildren, well. If you miss out, be sure visit his table where his excellent standard bags are available. If you do not have a Bill Smith bag, you need one.

Bill Smith's contact information is:

William Smith

8930 Bardstown Rd

Elizabethtown KY 42701

wsmithblackpowder@windstream.net

Copy by Heinz Ahlers with information supplied bu the CLF. For more information about the CLF auction go here.

2014 CLA Live Auction: Hunting Pouch by Bill Smith

The hunting pouch is an icon of the American frontier.  By the early 19th century pouches could show distinct regional variations, wide ranges in quality from home made to finest cordwainers work, and variations in size and shape based on use.  This years auction presents a stunning range of bags and accoutrements.

Bill Smith has donated a double bag of finely tanned deer skin with double internal compartments.  Bill has been making bags for over 20 years and they are very popular with re-enactors and shooters alike.  

This black leather bag exhibits very fine workmanship, an example of the best 19th century cordwainer’s art.  The stitching is so well done as to be decorative in itself.  Hand forged iron buckles and a woven strap complete the bag.  The multiple compartments would serve the long hunter very well.  It would also work equally well for the organized shooter or the packrat like myself.

BlIl Smith’s contact information is:

William Smith

8930 Bardstown Rd

Elizabethtown  KY 42701

wsmithblackpowder@windstream.net

Photo by Ric Lambert and copy by Heinz Ahlers.