Can someone explain how to determing the age of a saddle

[The Farmers Daughter]

I just picked up a Billy Cook Saddle at auction for $450. Can someone explain to me how to tell how old it is? The # on the latigo holder is 3877. It has a rawhide covered tree and good sheepskin fleece. The tooling is a well done oak leaf with acorn pattern. It has a tooled rear cinch to match.

Its marked "Billy Cook Greenville Tx". I know there is more than 1 Billy Cook, so who is who? Thanks for any insight.

Edited January 22, 2010 by The Farmers Daughter

[Denise]

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=3128

Here is a link to a topic with a really good history of Billy Cook. Hope it helps!

[The Farmers Daughter]

http://leatherworker...?showtopic=3128

Here is a link to a topic with a really good history of Billy Cook. Hope it helps!

Thanks for the link. There is a lot of information there and now I am really confused. I looked under the jockey and there is a # 6938 83. Can anyone tell me what that means? Is this an original or a longhorn spin off? Thank you.!