Western Bit and Spur was a company started by Jack Roberts in the 1940s in San Francisco, he sold bits and spurs which are marked W.B.S. Co. and which are not especially rare or high end, but are collectible and do have value.
Jim Wermuth was born in Bakersfield California and grew up working with horses and was a stunt man for Western movies in the 1930s. He learned bit and spur making from Abbie Hunt, he opened a shop selling silver items including bits and spurs which exhibit the stront influence Abbie Hunt’s training has on his […]
Norm Vogt was born in Fremont, Ohio and ended up in California where he cowboyed on ranches along the west coast before starting his own Western store selling bits and spurs as well as other saddlery equipment. The bits and spurs were imported from Mexico but were marked NV, or VOGT, or several other permutations. […]
Visalia is a storied company that has employed some of the most famous names in spur making. Precursor companies that would eventually become Visalia employed makers like Herrera, and bore names such as Walker & Wade, Walker & Wegener before being name Visalia Stock Saddle Company. Visalia was a reselling company and most collectors agree […]
Raphael Villa was born in Mexico and moved to Los Angeles California, though not much is known about his life. It is known that he lived in LA business directories for close to 40 years from 1885-1925. He was one of the earliest makers to mark his work and he is only known to have […]
Al Tietjen was born in Winnemucca, Nevada but moved to Reno where he spent time at the ranch of his relatives the Millers ( Elmer Miller’s family ), Elmer and Al would move to San Francisco and start a partnership making bits and spurs that was Miller & Tietjen ( pieces are marked MILLER & […]
Henry “Dutch” Thar was born in Germany and learned how to work silver from his father. He came to America and worked on ranches and was trained in bit and spur making by Ernest Logan. Dutch Thar was a well regarded maker of Wyoming style spurs which combine elements of the California and Texas styles. […]
We don’t know much about Irl Terry’s early life but he was working in the Hamley Saddlery in Oregon in 1914, Irl would work at the Hamley shop for over a decade before leaving Oregon to head for California where he worked in Raphael Gutierrez in San Francisco ( they marked their pieces G&T for […]
Jose Tapia was born in Mexico and moved to the US where his son Jesus was born. The two produced bits and spurs which rank among the finest ever produced and they created unique and intricate designs which no one else was doing. Their finest pieces feature pierced or filigree work on both bits and […]
L.D. Stone was a large San Francisco saddlery company who sold bits and spurs of many famous makers in their catalogs. Pieces for L.D. Stone were made on contract and often were marked “L.D. STONE & Co” or sometimes used a mark of a flat hand extended. Makers such as Atanasio Larios, and Tom Hildreth […]
