Older Simco Pleasure (?) Saddle

[silverdollarmagic]

After the nightmare with the last saddle, I decided to shop for an older Simco pleasure/trail saddle to just plod around in and found this one and purchased it. The seller is a young lady whose mother showed in it years ago. Thanks in advance!

an

[Timbo]

Love the color!!!!!!

[silverdollarmagic]

Love the color!!!!!!

Thanks! I like the color too. I can't wait to get it and give it a good cleaning and oiling. It's been sitting on a saddle rack for a few years. The mother had a bad accident and can't ride anymore. She gave me a great deal on it.

[mendedbowl]

I owned an old Simco long ago. Mine looked similar to yours, except mine lacked the rolled cantle and the conchos. Also my front cinch ring was mounted under the jockey instead of on the edge of the skirt like yours. Bought mine used in the early 80's and it seemed old back then. I would love to see a detailed pic of the tooling on your saddle.

ken

[silverdollarmagic]

I owned an old Simco long ago. Mine looked similar to yours, except mine lacked the rolled cantle and the conchos. Also my front cinch ring was mounted under the jockey instead of on the edge of the skirt like yours. Bought mine used in the early 80's and it seemed old back then. I would love to see a detailed pic of the tooling on your saddle.

ken

When I get it I will get some detailed close ups and post them here. I know the pic doesn't do it justice. I am really excited about this one.

[Saddlebag]

Is that an arab saddle? Do you have a front on pic?

[silverdollarmagic]

Hi SaddleBag. I honestly don't know if it is an Arab saddle. I do know it was used on a TWH and fits my own TWH very nicely. I have heard and read that Arab saddles tend to fit TWH's well. Out of all the pics I have of it, I don't have a pic of the front I will get some pics of the front today and post them here

Edited April 10, 2011 by silverdollarmagic

[gothcowboy]

Judging by that tooling pattern, fork, and color, this was a very late 70's to early 80's model. It's a regular model, it just has smaller skirts. Simco was not known for having generously sized skirts, unless it was a roping saddle.

I have an early 80's Simco show saddle (unusual big skirts, pelican horn, built up seat - weighs a ton) and the Simcos of that era went to a looser, loopier tooling pattern, like yours. That color, IIRC, was called walnut, and was a stock color. It was different than dark oil saddles of that era in that the finish was dyed - not oiled - that nice chocolate color. Hence, they lasted longer, the tooling stayed much crisper, and they weren't a mushy mess 40 years later. The lower priced Circle Ys, in contrast, were typically dark oiled over some funky brown dye job, and became a slimey critter that attracted dust in no time, and the tooling became less distinct (many were embossed, anyway).

If you use something like Bickmore cleaner with a soft toothbrush, it'll get all the dirt out of your tooling (which usually photographs light). It takes awhile... Follow that up with a couple coats of Bickmore Bick 4 conditioner, buff to a luster, and it will condition it and restore a lot of the lost color without it becoming an oily mess.