Lot 99: Moreno Santa Barbara Parade Saddle with Field Silver
Impressive, important and 100% original, circa 1890s-1910, J.A. Moreno, Santa Barbara, maker-marked Parade Saddle, with matching Bridle, attached to an early Field family Spade Bit, silver ferruled Reins, Breast Collar, and original Corona. Saddle is adorned with heavy gauge Edwin and John Field sterling silver and is believed to be the only saddle of its type ever made by Jacobo A. Moreno, a much-respected armorer and saddle maker who was born in Ventura, California in March, of 1857. Moreno was raised in Los Angeles but moved to Santa Barbara in the early 1870s where he was employed as a saddler by a number of firms between 1875 and 1904 including Francisco Moreno (his older brother), J. J. Eddleman, J M Forbes and his father, Juan Bautista Moreno. In Santa Barbara young Moreno would find legions of men on horseback who possessed the ego and the means to indulge themselves in the kind of masterworks that he could create.
The fully floral carved saddle's construction features an extremely narrow fork and high cantle, both trimmed in Field sterling silver. The saddle is adorned with ornate silver corner plates on the jockey and skirts, and includes a period carpeted corona with silver spots and scalloped Field conchos. The saddle is visually stunning in that it is fully covered with period Field family conchos in an array of sizes and shapes extending from the top of the horn to the tip of the tapaderos, and includes a heavily embellished matching Bridle, Breast Collar, and Reins with fancy ferrules plus a fabulous very early Field Santa Barbara Spade bit.
The saddle is reminiscent of the Dixie Thompson Loomis saddle owned by San Francisco deYoung Museum that set a world record for a Santa Barbara saddle last summer when it sold for close to $200,000 in Brian Lebel’s Fort Worth Old West Auction.
Brian Lebel's High Noon Auction - January 23, 2016
Sold 46,000
