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The Side Saddlery is pleased to offer a Goodnight saddle built by A Stelzig of Houston Texas..
The Founder of the Stelzig Saddlery Company was Antoine Stelzig, an Austrian immigrant whose family came to the US in 1843. The Stelzig family used a prairie wagon and a couple of oxen to move from ranch to ranch, offering handmade leather goods to the likes of cowboys and farmers in the new frontier.
In 1870, following the US Calvary, Antone settled in the Richmond-Rosenberg, area, just outside of Houston, opening a leather goods shop where clients could drive their wagons into the store to be loaded. By then the business had expanded to sell more than just custom saddles and harnesses. Seven years after moving to Richmond-Rosenberg, Antone decided to pursue greener pastures in the thriving pioneer town of Brenham.
When the flourishing town of Houston caught Antone’s eye in 1887, he founded A. Stelzig Saddlery in the Houston downtown district. There he built a statewide reputation for providing fine quality saddles, tack, boots, apparel and dependable equipment. People would ride in from towns hundreds of miles away to purchase leather goods from Antoine in what was one of the most competitive western saddle market in the old West!
Stelzig Saddlery is still in existance in Houston today as Stelzig Ranch Store!
The maker's mark on this saddle clearly indicates that the saddle was built after 1887 when Stelzig opened his saddlery in Houston, Texas.
THIS SADDLE:
This saddle was found at a Virginia estate sale. The consigner indicated that the saddle was brought back as a gift for a wife left in Virginia when her husband left the Civil War-scarred South for work in Texas.
The seat measures 18.5" long, measured from the front of the upright pommel to the rear of the seat. The seat measures 14 3/4" wide. The saddle has the typical double skirts of the Goodnight side saddle with unique border tooling.
This saddle has light colored leather with the under skirts, saddle strings, stirrup leather and tapadero stirrup replaced do to extreme wear on the original leather. Tooling dies were custom made by Barry King of Sheridan, Wyoming so The Side Saddlery could correctly reproduce the original tooling patterns. The original leather has been professionally cleaned and reconditioned.
The seat is beautifully tooled. The flat seat allows a more athletic riding style than the inexpensive, bowl-shaped catalog saddles of the same era. The nice off side purse continues the beautiful and unique border tooling. The saddle is clearly and prominently marked with the Stelzig maker's mark on the near side skirt.
The rigging rings are leather covered to keep the "cold iron" rings from damaging the rigging. The rigging is secure and in good condition. The saddle comes with new, exceptional quality latigos and double billet.
The tree is a medium fit measuring 6 1/4 inches in the gullet. This is a real find for Goodnight collectors, collectors of A. Stelzig leatherwork and saddles and a part of Texas history!
For a discussion of the Goodnight Western side saddle, see this article.
A Stelzig of Houston Texas Goodnight Western side saddle. $1600
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