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Clearance Belts :: New Damascus Buckles :: Russian Leather
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“craftsmanship”
(noun) the quality of design and work shown in something made by hand

 
After the Christmas madness it's always nice to have a good clearout. It's only as we were taking down our Christmas decorations that Dawn realised there was a box full of belts ready to be processed and put onto our Clearance Section. It's always a big job and takes a while to complete, but they are all now on our website, sorted into size categories. Most of them are belts that have been sized incorrectly, or have a small blemish that hasn't passed our quality control. You will certainly pick up a bargain.
Clearance Belts - 30" & under
Clearance Belts - 30 1/2" - 32"
Clearance Belts - 32 1/2" - 34"
Clearance Belts - 34 1/2" - 36"
Clearance Belts - 36 1/2" - 38"
Clearance Belts - 38 1/2" - 40"
Clearance Belts - 40 1/2" & above
New Batch of Damascus Buckles In Stock
 
We've just put 10 new Damascus buckles on the website - all individually numbered, the one you choose is the one you get. Once you've purchased it, the buckle will be greyed out so no one else can buy it. 

Russian Calf or Cuir de Russie - Now available in our Wallets

We’ve been lucky enough to secure some rather special leather from one of our favourite and most important tanneries, J &FJ Bakers of Colyton in Devon. 

Since the discovery and salvage of the wreck of the Metta Catherina in the Bristol Sound in 1973 there has been a huge amount of interest in Russian leather. The Metta Catterina sunk in a storm in 1786 with a hold full of Russian leather, which was largely in usable condition when salvaged after 200 years on the seabed, a testimony to the remarkable characteristics of the tanning process. The secrets of Russian leather where a closely guarded and where lost without trace in the dark and destructive days of the Russian revolution, but was a major export for the country for centuries and used for book binding, small leather goods, furniture and items for military service. The special tanning process produced leather that was resistant to weather, insects and time and with a famous, distinctive and pleasantly smoky smell of birch bark and as a result was a major source of income to the Russian exchequer. The leather found in the Metta Catherina is generally identified as Reindeer, but records suggest the vast majority of leather exported was in fact calf, as the leather from the wreck may well also be.

Many people have tried to recreate this leather, some claim to have succeeded, but as a company with some experience working with the genuine Metta Catherina leather we can say everything we have seen up to now has varied between awful and just a poor imitation. However, Bakers have spent a number of years, a lot of experiments and close collaboration with Russian speaking historians and French experts on the leather and have come up with a leather that’s so close to the original its in our experience indistinguishable in its looks, feel and smell (a vital part of Russian leather). This shouldn’t be too surprising given their tannery and methods are as close as its possible to imagine to those of pre Revolutionary Russia.

We’re excited to be working with this great leather and we plan to use it as the original was, for wallets, watchstraps and other small leathergoods. We hope they survive as well as the Metta Cattherina leather has!

Update on the babies of 2016!

Both foal and baby seem to be thriving. Percy has now been weaned and has a new field buddy and Bertie has been learning all about what goes on in the Equus workshop!
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© Equusit Ltd, All rights reserved.


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