Miles City Trophy Saddle, ca. 1914

Appraised on: July 25, 2009

Appraised in: Denver, Colorado

Appraised by: Bruce Shackelford

Category: Tribal Arts

Episode Info: Denver, Hour 1 (#1410)

Originally Aired: March 29, 2010

IMAGE: 1 of 3  

Appraisal Video: (2:12)

GUEST: Well, it was a prize saddle won by my grandfather in 1914, and it has just been in the family since. Actually, they had it and then I was given it.

APPRAISER: I see, and what did he win it for?

GUEST: He won it in a three-day horserace. They had to let their own horses go into a corral with all the other contestants, and then they had to go 25 yards away, run, get their horse saddled and run around the track three days in succession. And he got the fastest time and won the saddle.

APPRAISER: Well, what that shows is that rodeo has changed a lot since 1914. Saddles were the great trophy that was awarded, and this is a great saddle. The saddle was made at Mile City Saddlery in Mile City, Montana. Now, from 1895 to 1909, a man named Coggshall ran Mile City Saddlery under his name, and then it switched to Mile City Saddlery in 1909. So this came out five years after they switched the name. It's got a lot of great design features. The name of the rodeo is across the back of the cantle with the date. It has a lot of silver alloy trim. Looks like nickel silver. It has the classic bronc image on the fender, the "Let 'er Buck" image that everybody still uses even today. And the great thing is is you've got a great picture of him riding the exact saddle in that photograph. So it's kind of a neat thing, and early rodeo saddles are not very common. They just didn't survive. And so it's really great that you guys carried this down through your family. Early rodeo material is pretty desirable. There's just not a lot of it around anymore. If it came up for auction today, easily $3,000 to $5,000.

GUEST: Nice.

APPRAISER: And possibly more.

GUEST: Right. Thank you.

APPRAISER: Is there anything else I can tell you about it?

GUEST: No, not really. I guess I could add that the reason he won is he had his horse trained to come when he whistled, so the horse just ran right up to him.

APPRAISER: So he didn't have to chase him down and rope him like everybody else did.

GUEST: No, he just whistled, and here came old Dan.