Antique Saddles ~ Oh, the Stories They Could Tell
We’ve got a couple new consignments for our auction this Saturday, November 15th at the Thayne Community Center in Thayne, WY. Click to read a bit about the history behind these two saddles.
Lot #H213
First is a Miles City Saddlery 15.5″ Coggshall Saddle, circa 1900, with a brand from W.D. “Dee” Wear, Jr., a 1991 Cowboy Hall of Fame Inductee. Dee Wear, among several other achievements, was a founding member, stockholder and director of the American Quarterhorse Association.
In late 1896, in Miles City, Montana, Charles Coggshall and Al Furstnow bought the stock of another saddlery, added workers and became the only major saddlery between Billings, Montana and Dickinson, North Dakota. Read more on the history behind Miles City Saddlery at their website.
The Coggshall is the Holy Grail of saddles: firm, comfortable and durable. Diebel [current owner of Miles City Saddlery] says that “nobody ever rode a Miles City Saddlery Coggshall saddle that didn’t last forever.
– Matt Vilano, “In the Saddle”, Montana Living, June 11, 2009
Lot #H214
Next up is an antique J.H. Wilson Saddlery 16″ stock saddle, circa 1880. The saddle has been used and shows wear. Other than the saddlemaker stamp (see right), the only other markings are the initials “DB” on both sides, most likely the initials of the owner or horse.
James Hunter Wilson was born in 1848 as the son of a harness and saddlery manufacturer and studied under him during his tenure as the saddlemaker for the 2nd Illinois Calvary in the Civil War. At the advice of Horace Greeley, he went west and arrived in Denver in 1876. He began a small harness and saddlery shop and built a very well respected business.
The J.H. Wilson Saddlery Company and stands as a synonym for enterprise, progress and the most substantial qualities of business. Today, Mr. Wilson ranks as a pioneer harness manufacturer in the state of Colorado, with an unassailable reputation for honesty in business, and in reviewing his career one cannot but feel that it is an exemplification of the old adage: “An honest man is the noblest work of God.”
