How much is this saddle worth (NOT ADVERTISING AS NOT SELLING)

Fifty Bales of Hay

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This isn't an advertisement as not a saddle I am selling, but a secondhand saddle I am looking at buying, so hopefully this is allowed.

16.5" Olney GP saddle, wide fitting, brown leather. It seems to be in very good condition. Few scuff marks on the cantle, but nothing serious. Flocking is fine, but will need redoing possibly end of this year or next. It's been well looked after from its appearance, and a guesstimate at the age - probably about 4-6 years old.

So how much would it be worth in the secondhand market of saddles, please your thoughts?

(Olney was a saddlery in Buckinghamshire that's now been taken over by Derby House)
 
Well, I had (still have) a lovely Olney jump saddle for sale in brown leather with suede knee panels. It's a narrow fit and 17.5" It has no scuff marks and although it’s about 15 years old, it's been kept properly and in the house. My saddler wasn't interested in it, as it's not a fashionable brand. So I put it on ebay for £200 but no interest. I relisted it several times at cheaper prices until I was offered a measily £50, so I said; No thank you. You will probably have more luck though, because the wider fit is far more sellable than a narrow.

Your saddle must be one of the last they made, as Olney saddlery stopped trading and was bought by Derby House a long time ago. I thought more than 5 years ago?

I also put it onto Saddles Direct, but I got scammers contacting me and that scared me off using those type of sites.
 
Thanks, yes you're probably right in that it was over 5 years ago since Olney passed over to Derby House. I was guesstimating the age from looking at it, so it's possibly a 6 yo or 7 yo saddle?

It's not a popular or fashionable make, but they do seem quite well made?

It's not my saddle yet, but it might just do a job for me for a while, but I will need to re-sell it perhaps in 6 months or 12 months time, so trying to work out how much I might get for it then - or how much I'm going to lose on it if I overpay now?

If I guessed it perhaps cost £550-£600 brand new and fitted, and is 6-7 years old, would it be worth £160 now? Or more? Sidesaddlegirl, do you know the age of yours when you sold it? Thanks.
 
I'm not really sure how old mine was as I bought it 2nd hand but it was in excellent condition with big knee and thigh blocks like you see on so many saddles these days so couldn't have been that old. I reckon it was probably from around 2000 or so so would have so about 9ish years old when I sold it.

Olney saddles are really well made so I was surprised when I only got £160!
 
Thanks sidesaddlegirl for that. It's not a lot of money is it for a saddle £160, but as above I suppose it's not a familiar make - and now exempt make - but well made none the less.

I did find out that Olney Saddlery were still around in May 2007 from a google search, so it may be possible this saddle I'm looking at might be about 3-4 years old as I first thought? It's hard to judge, but also it's not just the age it's how it's been kept one has to think about.
 
Unfortunately, it's a fact of life that people prefer new rather than second hand unless it is a true bargain - and fits of course. It's the same with saddles and even though your Olney will have been better made and made to last many years rather than many of the new ones today, people don't see that. For the bargain hunters that's happy news but for sellers it's very upsetting. I've bought two Falcon Event saddles for less than £80 each, nothing wrong about them at all except a bit of age which doesn't worry me in the slightest seeing as I'm knocking on a bit myself! Do you have any sales around you where you could put a small reserve on so if it doesn't make what you're happy with you bring it home although even to do that will cost you money too! In your shoes, I'd either put it on ebay or Saddles Direct with a reserve or if you know you won't ever need it again, I'd think about donating it to a horse charity but only if you don't need the money.
 
Yes, I agree with you. The one I have is beautiful and very well made, and it was very comfy and gave the rider a lovely secure ride. That's why for the silly money I was offered I thought I'd rather keep it. I might one day have another horse it will fit.

I think it's hard selling any saddle privately for a good price at the moment though.
 
Thanks, I just did a search on "olney saddles" on here and found quite a few posts, from various people that had them or were buying them or had sold them.

So anyone else give me any ideas?

Or an idea of how much the Olney saddles were to buy new?
 
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