Charles P. Shipley was born in Ohio and as a young man moved to Kansas City to start his own saddlery business. Despite some setbacks Shipley managed to grow the business and expand his offerings as time went along. While at first he specialized in harnesses and leather goods, selling bits and spurs made by […]
Petmecky was a German immigrant who settled around Austin Texas and became one of the most famous early makers of bits and spurs as well as what he is best known for which is as a gunsmith. Petmecky was an incredibly skilled metalworked and produced some extremely high quality spurs, many of them gal-legs that […]
J.R. McChesney is probably the biggest name in the production of antique Texas style bits and spurs. His shop was the largest west of the Mississippi for a period of time and he employed many other famous makers at one time or another. McChesney was a very industrious man and worked hard and diligently doing […]
Pascal Kelly learned to make bits and spurs from a blacksmith in town as a way to make money to make a trip to the 1904 World’s Fair from his small town in Texas. His skill at blacksmith work and bit and spur making led him to open his own shop with his brother and […]
Oscar Crockett was born in Pecos City, Texas and learned to make bits and spurs by watching his older brother. Oscar worked in blacksmith shops and would parter up with George Gliem for a year or two before starting his own shop in Oklahoma and then eventually working for C.P. Shipley. In 1920 Crockett bought […]
E.F. Blanchard was born in New Mexico and when his father died he was forced to grow up fast and help run the family’s ranch. He learned to make spurs out of necessity and taught himself after observing another spur maker for a short while. Blanchard’s spurs are easy to identify as most are marked […]
George A. Bischoff was born in Maryland and apprenticed in a carriage shop where he learned to work with metal. He would move to Gainsville Texas where he worked in blacksmith shops and carraige shops, some that he owned, until he ended up working at J.R. McChesney’s shop in 1895. He would eventually open his […]
Joe Bianchi is perhaps most well associated with the bottle opener shank spur but he was an accomplished bit and spur maker and produced other styles and paterns as well, though many of his designs are simply variations on the basic bottle opener which was enormously popular an which every other maker immitated. Bianchi certainly […]
J.O. Bass was born in Atlanta, Georgia and moved with his family to Quitaque, Texas when he was around 12 years old. Bass opened a blacksmith shop in the small town at the age of 18 and while he performed general blacksmith work for a while, the demand for his spurs soon became too great […]
Wes Wimmer was born in San Luis Obispo, California and worked on ranches for his early life, he learned bit and spur making and sold bits and spurs around the California ranches around Santa Barbara. He would continue to make bits and spurs part time throughout his life and he marked his work W.W.W. and […]
