Example Research On H Messing Saddle

[Harfindel]

Since people often ask here about the history of particular saddlers, I thought it might be interesting to post an example of a case study.

I recently got a hold of an early California half seat saddle that is in fairly decent condition. It is marked in one place with the name "MESSING." (pics posted below) Initial searches on the internet didn't yield much, but there is a very short entry in Ruxton listing "H. Messing & Son" as active in the 1880s. Sure enough, the mark on the saddle showed a mis-strike of the "H" portion of the stamp, but no "& SON".

That opened things up, and after some searching of various databases I was able to put together a pretty extensive history of the saddler, John Henry Messing, and his business. Seems the saddle is from 1859-77, before he took his sons in as partners. I was surprised at the amount of detail that came up, and had to put it in a timeline to keep track of it. One of his ancestors had posted a photograph of him, too.

Anyway, I am posting a .pdf of the timeline in case people are interested. I am assuming that this situation is not unique, and that similar detail could be found on other saddlers.

H Messing Timeline.pdf

Edited October 6, 2013 by Harfindel