Billy Cook Authenticity?

[sbwinde]

Hello, I just purchased a Billy Cook Saddlery Saddle on Ebay, and I can only find one other available for sale with the same stamped model number, which is 73207. Both mine, and the other one (link provided below) have a crooked horn. The metal plate stamp inlay on the seat is supposed to be black lettering, but its only black on a few letters, although the saddle looks brand new. So it isn’t worn off.
The number under the fender on my saddle is 2012 18.

My saddle was advertised on this blog: http://westsaddles.com/2016/03/02/billy-cook-barrel-saddle-2/

The link to the other one similar to mine is: http://www.horseclicks.com/women-s-billy-cook-barrel-saddle/saddles/822951

These are the only two that i can find on the internet, leading me to believe its a fake.
But if someone has any idea if this is a real or fake, i’d be happy to hear. It’s made in Texas which I know is Longhorn, but i’m concerned mine was made in India and a complete knock off. My saddle looks just like the Running Tres Aces model which has a completely different serial number of 291209. I was reassured its authentic, but the seller bought it new on Ebay as well. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. If it is a fake, I should be able to get my money back and return the saddle and move forward with the purchase of an authentic BC Saddle or BC by Longhorn. Thank you for any help you can offer.

[QHJockee]

Here’s my 2 cents, whatever that is worth. The saddle you bought, the height of the horn concerns me. It almost looks like a vaulters horn or a cutters horn. Thats saddles conchos securing the BC nameplate look like something i bought out of Tandy leather a few years ago to make a belt. Also, I have not seen the BC stamp outlines in anything but a plain oval tooling, not decorative as this one shows.

Don’t take me for an expert, I havent looked a a new Billy Cook in a few years. But Its the only barrel saddle I would own. But make sure its the one made in Suphur, OK.

[sbwinde]

I agree, I suspect its a fake. The horn is huge, and crooked! It is very bizarre. I actually emailed the Action company, who owns the Texas billy cooks (longhorn) to see if this is even a legitimate model number since there are only two on the internet. I suspect I will be filing a complaint through ebay to get my money back by the end of the day. Thank you so much for your response!

[beau159]

Can you post a picture of the brand stamp of each saddle?

To my understanding, those that say “Billy Cook Saddlery” are the ones that occurred after Billy Cook sold his saddle company and were not made by him.

The old saddles (before 1980) that say “Billy Cook Maker” are ones that were originally made by him in Greenville, Texas. After 1980, then I believe they should say Sulfur, Oklahoma.

I’m not a Billy Cook expert so take my words with a grain of salt.

I think your best bet is to call Billy Cook and see what information you can find.

[aktill]

Looks like a cutting saddle horn, or at least it may have been in a wreck and had the horn replaced as such.

[SouthernTrailsGA]

The Billy Cook Saddle made in Oklahoma have a 4 digit Model #

The Billy Cooks made in Texas by the Action Company have 5 digit Models and most start with a 7 as both examples

I think it is a real BC out of Texas

I sold Billy Cook out of Texas many years back, but only for a short time, their Quality was HORRIBLE, having a crooked Horn or mismatched Skirts, Crooked Cantles was normal as in more than 50% of the time, I quite selling them within a few months, got sick of defective merchandise…

Never heard of any major problems with the BC out of Oklahoma

.

[Draftmare]

[QUOTE=sbwinde;8568731]
I agree, I suspect its a fake. The horn is huge, and crooked! It is very bizarre. I actually emailed the Action company, who owns the Texas billy cooks (longhorn) to see if this is even a legitimate model number since there are only two on the internet. I suspect I will be filing a complaint through ebay to get my money back by the end of the day. Thank you so much for your response![/QUOTE]

How crooked? Could indicate a broken horn, in which case I would open a PayPal case and return the saddle to the seller.

[sbwinde]

I called the Action company and she told me that their saddles all started with a 29. Since the serial is 2012-18 I assume the saddle (which looks brand new) was made in 2012. It looks junky. I am returning it either way and going with a saddle from Oklahoma. I found a used one that is really nice and I can tell its authentic and good quality just by looking at it. I will not ever purchase another Action company saddle after this ordeal.

[sbwinde]

Its not broken, it looks like the mold was crooked, especially since i found this crappy saddle’s twin (link posted in my original post) which also had a crooked horn. The seller was upset, but agreed to accept the return. I truly beleive ti was made in china or India.