Unbranded saddle

Chippers1

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I'm getting a new saddle soon (the order has just gone in ??‍♀️) and I'm looking to sell on my current saddle but I have no idea what brand it is or even if it has a brand - are unbranded makes a thing with saddles?
I can't find any identifying marks on it at all, is there any where else I can check?
Or does anyone recognise it...
It's a decent leather saddle, I just find it uncomfortable and I don't think it fits me as well as a saddle could (it came with him)
This is the best pic I have of it at the moment:
IMG_20200928_221437_671.jpg
 

cremedemonthe

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I can see just by looking at it it's well made, no visible stitches on the skirts is the clue, it means hand made rather than all machined (no stitches showing up near the welts) which shows care to detail.
Look at the stirrup bars, has it got any BS number stamped on it?
Unbranded saddles used to mean an apprentice had made it and the company weren't ready to let them have their name brand on it incase of lower quality/workmanship issues but that is now largely a thing of yesterday and shows how old I am!
It could have been a saddle made up by a company for a certain saddlery shop to sell and they never got round to purtting their own name brand on it.
Only thing I would say is, it's got dees instead of fall down staples whiuch would have been better and added to the quality.
Oz
 

Chippers1

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Thank you, that's interesting! I'll have a look at the stirrup bars later. It is a nice saddle, very heavy to carry ? hoping that people will still be interested in buying even without an obvious brand.
 

Baywonder

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Looks like the Sabre/Symonds style that was popular in the 90's

Whilst the style is very similar to some of their models, this is definitely not a Symonds or Sabre saddle. Both of these makes would have branded head nails, nameplates and embossed logos on it, along with BS stamped bars. The quality is nowhere near good enough to be one of those brands.

It looks like your saddle could be what is typically known in the trade as a "back shedder"

FWIW, Symonds are still going strong! :)
 

Frumpoon

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Whilst the style is very similar to some of their models, this is definitely not a Symonds or Sabre saddle. Both of these makes would have branded head nails, nameplates and embossed logos on it, along with BS stamped bars. The quality is nowhere near good enough to be one of those brands.

It looks like your saddle could be what is typically known in the trade as a "back shedder"

FWIW, Symonds are still going strong! :)

i'm sure you are a hit at parties....
 

Chippers1

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There's no info on either of the stirrup bars but I did find this:
20200929_151425.jpg

It's very worn but I think it says Spring tree?
Not sure if that's helpful!
It shall just have to be the nameless saddle
 

Baywonder

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You do see unbranded saddles for sale sometimes, although branded ones tend to go for a higher price. Looks like yours says 'Spring Tree' and 'Made in England' so I am sure you will be be to sell it on. :)
 

thefarsideofthefield

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Looks very similar to my old Derby House Samber WH saddles ( from back in the day when Derby House was a small independent high class saddlers ! ) . I had a number of these because they fitted the native ponies really well and were suitable for showing . Some of the oldest ones ( @ 25 years old ? ) have plain unmarked studs and the makers info ( ie Derby House Saddlery ) was printed on the girth guards in gold lettering which , inevitably , eventually wore off so they would be unidentifiable now . The later ones had a green/gold ' DHS ' stud but I'm pretty sure that they too had the make ' printed ' rather than embossed on the girth guards .
 

chaps89

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FWIW, Symonds are still going strong!
It is one of my biggest sadnesses that my lovely lovely Symonds saddle that was on my old boy doesn't fit my mare. Gorgeous saddle and so comfy. It is stored away as it is too sentimentally valuable and beautiful to part with!

Sorry OP, gone off on a tangent there. I suspect the only issue with it being unbranded is it being harder for people to gauge if it will fit their horse without trying it on, they can't just search for a particular model that they're after and it would come up. But it looks to be a nice saddle so sure it will still sell :)
 

Dexter

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Looks very similar to my old Derby House Samber WH saddles ( from back in the day when Derby House was a small independent high class saddlers ! ) . I had a number of these because they fitted the native ponies really well and were suitable for showing . Some of the oldest ones ( @ 25 years old ? ) have plain unmarked studs and the makers info ( ie Derby House Saddlery ) was printed on the girth guards in gold lettering which , inevitably , eventually wore off so they would be unidentifiable now . The later ones had a green/gold ' DHS ' stud but I'm pretty sure that they too had the make ' printed ' rather than embossed on the girth guards .

This. I am sure that's a Samber
 

Chippers1

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Thanks everyone for your help :) i was told when I bought him that it was made for him so i'm not sure if it's an older saddle (they could be making it up after all!)
Hopefully I should be able to sell, I was just wondering if anyone was able to identify it from a pic (as said, easier to sell when people can search by brand!) but it shall remain unbranded :)
 

sbloom

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OZ, I was looking at the knee rolls in particular, those remind me of the early AH saddles.
Definitely not one of ours, there are a lot of flaps cut like that (after all there are only so many ways to cut a flap), it falls between our Trad WH and Sport GP cuts on the sport tree but both have a rear pad as well as knee pad. We don't have any saddles without branded nail heads.
 

hock

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It’s very similar to the Stamford made by Jeffries too. Most likely from the same stable just left unbranded maybe?
 

thefarsideofthefield

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I have just looked in an old Derby House Saddlery catalogue from 1998/99 and the photo of the Samber WH has the head nail with their logo on it, not a plain one.

Incidentally, it was priced at £475! o_O

Sure some of my early ones had plain studs but no way of checking as they were sold a few years back when we down sized the herd ! , And yes I remember the price as £475 which I thought was pretty reasonable for the quality , even that long ago . They aged really well ( some over 25 years old !) and I got between £350 - £500 each for them when I sold , so not a bad investment in the end . I've still got a couple in the tack room for our two oldies but they're the newer ones with the swanky green/gold embossed studs .
Incidentally ( and I'm pretty sure this is true , but I might have dreamt it ) the original DH Samber design was developed by two guys who worked together . When they parted company one remained at Derby House and the other worked for Fylde Saddlery where the 'Samber' design saddle was marketed as the 'Mick' { named after the saddler ?) so the Samber and the Mick are actually the same saddle . I was told this by Mr Wilkinson himself when I visited his stand at a show to try a saddle and he spotted the one that my pony was currently wearing . He said ' That's a nice Mick ' and I said ' No , it's a Samber ' and he said ' Ah , well , let me tell you a story ….'
Are you in the NW OP ? Fylde might offer you a decent price if they recognise it .
 
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sbloom

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Sure some of my early ones had plain studs but no way of checking as they were sold a few years back when we down sized the herd ! , And yes I remember the price as £475 which I thought was pretty reasonable for the quality , even that long ago . They aged really well ( some over 25 years old !) and I got between £350 - £500 each for them when I sold , so not a bad investment in the end . I've still got a couple in the tack room for our two oldies but they're the newer ones with the swanky green/gold embossed studs .
Incidentally ( and I'm pretty sure this is true , but I might have dreamt it ) the original DH Samber design was developed by two guys who worked together . When they parted company one remained at Derby House and the other worked for Fylde Saddlery where the 'Samber' design saddle was marketed as the 'Mick' { named after the saddler ?) so the Samber and the Mick are actually the same saddle . I was told this by Mr Wilkinson himself when I visited his stand at a show to try a saddle and he spotted the one that my pony was currently wearing . He said ' That's a nice Mick ' and I said ' No , it's a Samber ' and he said ' Ah , well , let me tell you a story ….'
Are you in the NW OP ? Fylde might offer you a decent price if they recognise it .

I would say that things do change, in general terms a model can often only apply to the flap, rather than that specific flap and tree combo, if the tree changes either from one company to another, or over time, then obviously it's not going to fit the same despite having the same name. As an example even Ideal H&C is two different trees, and many of their saddles are made to order with a different tree. The Mick is, I believe, made by Symonds and they also have an identical saddle in their range, but again, you'd want to be sure that tree, AND panel it must be said, is the same. Different workshops usually have their own templates to cut the leather.
 
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