by Joice Overton

The spurs are Great Plains Style, made by Ricardo.

"Buzz Saws," "Gut Hooks," "Cowboy Steel," "Persua-ders," these are some of the colorful descriptions sometimes given to the Cowboy's spurs. They were the tools of his trade, his means of earning a living from the back of a horse.

Because a Cowboy's spurs were such a personal piece of equipment, and because they were hand made, they have rapidly become very representative of the Cowboy way of life in America. That alone makes them highly desirable and collectible in the realm of American Western Memorabilia.

America's romance with the spur began with the Spanish, dating back to its introduction to this Continent by way of the Spanish Conquistador, Hernando Cortez in 1520. At that particular early phase in the spurs' history, the size of the rowel, (the round wheel-like part) was measuring an impressive, but cumbersome, six to eight inches around! The Grandaddy of all spurs, it was appropriately called "The Espuela Grande," or; "The Great Spur."

The evolution of the Cowboy spur from The Great Spur, to the spur as we know it today, has been a long and colorful one. As with so many things, "necessity" has truly been "the mother of invention" here.

Ladies had spurs also. These delicately made spurs are somewhat smaller and narrower in the heel band than full men's sizes. They are typical California Style and made by the old Master August Buermann.

For many generations, spurs have been constantly modified to fit the particular needs and preferences of the Cowboy. Chap guards, tie-downs, rowel guards were all modifications invented and added because of the Cowboy's need for safety and better use of the spurs.

The chap guard, generally found on the California style spurs, was put there simply to keep the Cowboy's chaps out of the rowel. Tie-downs were either chains or leather added to the spur to ride under the boot and keep the spur from angling upwards on the boot. Rowel guards, though considered decorative today, were also invested to help keep the rowels turning freely, especially if the cowboy happened to be wearing Woolies, or hair covered chaps.

Designs were also sometimes added at the personal requests of the Cowboy, and sometimes even done by himself. Many a Cowboy turned his trade to Spurmaker in the 1800s.

Styles eventually became "Regional." If the Cowboy lived and worked in Texas, for instance, rather than California, the style of his spurs reflected it.

Great Plains Style: I class them as such because of the features; swinging buttons, and rowels are Texas and the conchos applied over inlays, California. They are not "typical" of any style, but would fall best in he Great Plains class. Made by Les Garcia.

Spurs actually fall into five basic and broad classes today:

·Mexican, Vaquero

·California Style

·Texas Style

·Great Plains Style

·Prison Made

Each class had a particular quality and distinction, somewhat as follows: Mexican spurs are generally very large rowelled, sometimes leaning towards a simplistic, almost crude form of ornamentation, depending on how old they are and what part of Mexico they were made in.

With the older, finer ones, the silver inlays are smoother, more refined and intricate. Many were made with "Pajados," or "Jingle Bobs" hanging near the rowel.

The "Chihuahua" style generally had very large rowels, and wide "chunky" heel bands. Many of the "Chihuahua" style spurs are still being manufactured in Mexico today as a sort of "tourist trade." The best indicator of age and value is the silver in-lays. If they appear thin, and "scratched" on, chances are the spur is not very old. Condition of the metal itself is also a good indicator of age.

California spurs are perhaps the easiest to identify, having a dropped, almost "curled down" look to the shank. They generally have chap guards, multiple points on the rowels, and are endowed with very beautiful silver inlays or overlays, and fancy ornamentation. They also can be identified by their two-piece construction.

Silver engraved, Texas Style Spurs. They have contemporary leathers with antique "Heart" conchos and have been in my family for over sixty years.

Silver Conchos and double heel chains are fairly common. Quite naturally, they show some of the early Mexican, Vaquero influence. Texas spurs are recognized by their single piece construction, stationary or swinging buttons on the heel bands, and unique, though somewhat simpler, decoration on the shanks and heel bands. Most often they are single mounted, (ie: decorated on only one side of the spur) and they rarely have a chap guard. The rowels have a smaller, more utilitarian look to them.

Often there will be found "long shanks", made with an extra long shank to them. These were the spurs that were best for a Cowboy if he worked the cold country and wore "Woolies", the hair-side-out type chaps. With the longer shanks on his spurs, the wooly hair on his chaps stayed out of the rowels on his spurs. It is interesting to note that John Wayne generally wore Texas style spurs in the movies he made, and a photo of them can be found in the author's book, Cowboy Bits and Spurs.

Great Plains spurs are almost a "cross breed" of the Texas and California styles, and with that cross, became a style all their own. They are usually a one-piece construction, have a larger rowel than the Texas spurs, and are decorated with silver overlays and inlays. Sometimes it is a difficult spur to "call," as they have influence from the other styles. Look for large rowels, one-piece construction, wide heel bands and beautiful silver ornamentation. Some may have straight, somewhat longer shanks on them, without chap guards.

Prison Made spurs are in a class that is very unique, rare and difficult to find. They were made by inmates at some of the early prisons but were not especially abundant, and, therefore, they are difficult to find and also difficult to identify.

However, they are the spurs that collectors love to find, simply because they are the ones that somehow bear a particular "mystique" about them. We know they were made by a person serving time behind bars. Did he die there, or was he released? Was he a cowboy on the outside before he was captured? What was his crime?

The questions are endless, and so of course that aspect adds a kind of special charm to this class of spur. Some things to help the collector identify the prison made spur: stamped-in, somewhat long numbers inside the heel bands; shallow, almost scratched-in silver engraving; unique designs. Remember, the prisoner may have had a lot of time to work on them, but he didn't necessarily have a wide array of sharp tools.

 Left: Classic example of early California Style spurs. Unmarked, note chap guard, drop shank, and silver conchos. Right: Intricately inlaid with tiny pieces of sterling silver, the California style spurs were made by Les Garcia.  

Some of the prisons where spurs were made in the nineteenth century include: Canon City, Colorado, Huntsville, Texas, Walla Walla, Washington, Yuma, Arizona, Deer Lodge, Montana, McCallister, Oklahoma, and possibly Salem, Oregon in the latter days.

As much as we all would love to hold onto our colorful American Cowboy past, it is an inevitable fact that the Cowboy way of life is rapidly disappearing here in America. Here in the West, the new more modern all terrain vehicle, or ATV as it is called, has almost replaced the horse and saddle for the rancher to check a mile or two of fence. The Trail Boss is now a cross country Truck Driver, hauling the cattle to market.

Sometimes it almost seems that, in order to see a genuine Cowboy at work, a person has to attend some of the Rodeos where there are still Cowboys earning a living from the back of a horse. They are the wonderful men today who keep the "spirit" of the Cowboy alive. Never pass up a chance to go and watch them work at the trade, for believe me, it is a dying part of America.

We can preserve some of that way of life by collecting and caring for some of the old Cowboy equipment whenever we are lucky enough to find it. It is becoming very scarce and difficult to find at all today, and there are reasons for that. Many collectors have realized that we are seeing an end to the Cowboy Era, and they are stepping up efforts to find the items while they are still available.

Many American Cowboy items are also being shipped out of this country to overseas collectors as the craze to own some Cowboy Americana broadens. While it is true that there are new pieces being built today, especially in Mexico, there is hardly a comparison to be made between the contemporary Cowboy bits and spurs, and the work of the old Master Bit and Spurmakers.

The old Masters should be viewed with the same respect as we view the old Master Artists of oil painting. Those who take an old spur into their hands should consider how that particular piece was hand forged from molten metal, then silver overlaid or inlaid, and with painstaking patience was engraved with intricate designs of "Paisley" and "Lace," all simply accomplished with crudely made hand-held tools and chisel. All this should help us appreciate that the Master Spurmaker of the 1800s was certainly on equal footing with the old Masters in oil.

Some very special old Masters' names to watch for are: G.S. Garcia, Les Garcia, Mike Morales, August Buermann, J.R. McChesney, Oscar Crockett, P.M. Kelly, J.O. Bass, The Boones. This is, of course, only a partial listing of the "greats," but it may get a collector started. Names or marks of the Masters were generally placed inside the heel bands on spurs, but were also placed in various other inconspicuous places, sometimes on the top of the spur shanks, sometimes under a spur button.

Quite often the Master neglected to place an identifying mark or his name in them at all. When this is encountered, one must identify by style and "finish" alone. Each one of the old makers had a particular "signature" design or trait, which was even without his conscious knowledge sometimes, built into his work. As a person becomes adept at reading these marks of style, age, design etc., one also becomes educated as to value.

One rule of thumb that seems to hold true in spur collecting, as well as for other antiques, is: the older, the better, and the better the condition, the higher the value, and, of course, the clearer makers' marks the better. Marked spurs sometimes sell for more than the ones without a makers' mark, but this is not a hard and fast rule.

Collectors should never try to repair an old spur. If it needs repairs and the collector feels he can't resist having it restored, he should take it to a very qualified Silversmith to have it done, but never should try to do it himself. I have seen botched pieces of "Welding" and "Soldering" that are nightmares. Some beautiful old spurs and silver mounted bits have been totally ruined this way.

For those lucky enough to own some of the old silver-mounted Bits and Spurs, I recommend cleaning the silver with a soft cloth and Simichrome polish only. It is available at most hardware stores. If spurs have the old original leathers on them still, clean the leather with a good liquid saddle soap only. It has glycerin in it and will help to return the leather to its original soft condition and help to preserve it for the future.

I am always happy to give advice to a "novice" about his Spurs or Bits, and willing to help anyone identify his or her pieces.

Happy collecting!