Old Parade Saddle

[steadybrook]

I have an old prade saddle come in the shop today,I cannot find a maker name on it anywhere.I am trying to find the maker ,the age and the approx.value for insurance.Any help would be appriciated.

[BriarcreekFarm]

I have an old prade saddle come in the shop today,I cannot find a maker name on it anywhere.I am trying to find the maker ,the age and the approx.value for insurance.Any help would be appriciated.

I am sorry to be so late replying to your questions. I only log in here occasionally and today I thought I would do a casual search for parade saddles and your thread came up. What you have is a Ted Flowers parade saddle, Model #599. This was most likely made in Ted Flowers' shop called "The Spot Shop" which was in Alexandria, Indiana. I would think it likely that he made it between the very late 50's and early 70's, sorry I can't narrow it down more than that. This time period was when Ted made the majority of his parade saddles. Since the picture only depicts one side, it's hard to place a true value on it, but I can tell you the 599 sets were his lower end sets in that they were not as detailed or adorned with silver spots as much as his high end sets were. You will not find a maker's mark as Ted didn't mark his sets very often. When he did, he would place an engraved plate right behind the swells on the seat bearing the name of his shop and location. We've been collecting Ted Flowers sets of all types for quite a few years now and I'm sorry to say that the value isn't nearly what it was less than 2 years ago. Judging by only the left side of the set, which looks to be in very good condition (by this I mean no serious dings/dents in the silver, no missing silver spots, no obvious dry rotted leather, etc.), and the fact that you don't mention any accompanying pieces such as a matching bridle or breastcollar, your saddle probably has a replacement value of $2,500 to $3,200. I have seen them sell for less but not in as good of condition as the one in your picture. Insurance value would be about the same as replacement. These saddles are worth hanging on to - if our economy ever shows any good recovery, value will quickly increase on these collectible old sets. So sorry I am so late to reply. I should check in here more often. You might enjoy my website - www.showinstyle.net

[Randy Cornelius]

I would also agree it is a Ted Flowers saddle. A little more info is that these saddles were made in the day before nylon thread, most were sewn with linen thread. The trouble is that with the age of all Flowers saddles the linnen threat is rotting. I have had 2 of these saddles come in for repair and there is just no where to stop as the thread is rotting everywhere. Also the silver is not silver but nickle plated brass. The only thing that is holding the silver on is a small split rivit soddered to the back side of the silver. These tend to corrode and fall off as well. The only way to keep these good old saddles alive is to have them completely restored and that cost alone is very high. I know that Dusty Johnson has been restoring these for several years and his web site has a world of information on it. You have a nice saddle but I would think that it is one of the low end models as some that I have seen are very ornate. Watched the show Pawn Shop on history channel, had 2 Ted Flowers saddles on it Monday night, these were both of the high end with breast collors, serriopies(mispelled that one!) and all and they sold for 7K apiece.

Good luck with yours.

Randy