D & S Saddlery? Mystery Saddle, Identification And History?

[Havilah]

I recently purchased a saddle from a pawn shop in Northern Florida.

After hours of googling to my dismay, I found no information on my new-to-me saddle. I THINK the brand stamp says D & S saddlery. After googling D & S Saddlery I found a company in Colorado that sells but does not make saddles. I called despite this fact, to ask if they would know anything about my saddle.

The wonderful lady on the phone said that 40-50 years ago the owner of the store (Dominic Santini) actually DID make saddles and she believed that my saddle was indeed one of his.

So my question is, do you think this says D & S? And is there ANYONE out there that recognizes the stamp and could give me more information on this saddle? It also has a seat size stamp (17) on the keeper and a 352 stamp (can anyone explain that?) behind the seat on the rear rigging.

http://tinypic.com/r/555fn6/8

http://tinypic.com/r/rumk1t/8

I really like the saddle. I'm just a sucker for history, to not know where this saddle comes from drives me crazy!! Any information at all would be greatly appreciated. Even just thoughts on the workmanship.

[Saddlebag]

Never heard of it. 352 is likely a catalog number. It appears it would fit someone with a rather generous bottom.

[BOB BRENNER]

I knew Dominic "Bingo" Sentena well. To my knowledge Bingo never built any saddles. If he did it would have been in the 1940's or 50's. Your saddle looks to be no older than 20 or so years. Bingo was a good tooler have been taught by F O Baird.

Bob

[Havilah]

Bob! Thank VERY much for that information. Greatly appreciated! Now to find who DID make the saddle...

[joe59]

Havilah,

In doing your research, there are several question that you can answer for yourself to get an age and type of quality of the saddle.

1. What is the tree made of? Wood covered with rawhide, wood covered with fiberglass, ralide (injected plastic), wood covered with canvas.......

2. What type of stirrup leather buckles are on it?

3. What is the lining on the skirts? Felt, artificial sheep skin, genuine wool skins.......

4. What is the hardware material? Aluminum, Brass, Steel, Stainless steel........

5. What is the material of the skirt fillers? Leather, cardboard, fiber board, foam rubber, plastic........

6. How many stitch per inch are the skirts sewn with and do they match with stitching on the cantle binding and fork cover? 4,5,6,7,8........

This might not be the answer you are looking for. From the picture, it would appear that your saddle is one of the many that are mass produced in factories in this country and are imported. 17 inch seats were not common in factory saddles until the late eighties or early nineties. I agree with Bob Brenner that your saddle is no more than 20 years old. You can find them all day long on ebay from three hundred to a thousand dollars.

[Saddlebag]

The rawhide on the forks and cantle was popularized in the 1990's. This is a modern saddle, probably a Ralide tree and synthetic fleece lined skirts. New it was moderately priced, Today new it would fetch maybe $700. It is a factory saddle.

Edited October 3, 2014 by Saddlebag

[Wenny]

For what its worth, I read the stamp as "D & P Saddlery". A quick Google search led me to a website for that name. The stamp doesn't look the same, but they may have updated their logo since your saddle was made. Worth sending them an email and a picture to see if they can tell you anything more. Good luck! http://dp-saddlery.com/