Legit Billy Cook Saddle? Doing my homework

[Agdodge4x4]

Im looking at buying a Billy Cook 9111. Its out of Sulphur Oklahoma, and there are OK stamps all over it. On both sides under the jockey is the mark and serial. There is a silver plate on the seat near the horn that has his name in script and it says Billy Cook Maker. It is a two tone model. I have not been able to get a hold of anyone at Billy Cooks shop in OK for several days. Here are my questions that are causing me hesitation.

On the horn there is no concho with the maker mark. Do all models have that concho? There is a tiny pinhole in the horn, perhaps something was there, but its not likely because it has a dally wrap on it from the factory.

I saw one other saddle that is identical to this online but its out of the Greenville Tx location. Do they make identical models to the OK location?

Other concerns are that there are two phillips screws in the front of the saddle near the seat that are wallowed out. Would they be put in at the factory like that?

Last…stain. The brown saddle stain looks sloppy under the leather jockeys and flaps. In fact, its not stained at all in some places. Is that normal? You cannot see this unless you look under the flaps.

Can anyone address these concerns? Im perhaps being overly cautious. It has other leather with it that is all Billy Cook from Oklahoma.

Thanks!

[Dani]

The Oklahoma ones are the real ones. They sold out several years ago and now are located in Greenville and are no longer a good quality. The Oklahoma factory no longer operates if I’m not mistaken.

[Agdodge4x4]

Well, Billy Cook DOES still make saddles from their OK location. Over 70 models as a matter of fact.

The saddle was sold before I could confirm it’s authenticity. At any rate, for my knowledge, I confirmed it anyway…

As was obvious from the original post, I had a weird feeling about this saddle. Something about it’s look and feel wasn’t right. I called Billy Cook today, and their super friendly staff checked out the pictures of the serial and immediately called me back saying it was a fake. This is too bad too. The maker’s mark was right, and it was in about 6 places on the saddle.

Here is a pic:

https://goo.gl/j2nlt6

Just wanted to let people know in case they run across this thread. Just because it has Billy Cook Maker from Sulphur OK doesnt mean it’s real. I would highly encourage all who buy used to simply call them and let them validate from their record book. In this case, the obvious issue is that the serial is in an arch and not straight across. Also, the first two numbers are the year date code, and it should be followed by a space and 6 more numbers: XX XXXXXX

So…someone bought a fake billy cook and never knew it…and the original seller probably doesn’t know either.

[Agdodge4x4]

Well, Billy Cook DOES still make saddles from their OK location. Over 70 models as a matter of fact.

The saddle was sold before I could confirm it’s authenticity. At any rate, for my knowledge, I confirmed it anyway…

As was obvious from the original post, I had a weird feeling about this saddle. Something about it’s look and feel wasn’t right. I called Billy Cook today, and their super friendly staff checked out the pictures of the serial and immediately called me back saying it was a fake. This is too bad too. The maker’s mark was right, and it was in about 6 places on the saddle.

Here is a pic:

https://goo.gl/j2nlt6

Just wanted to let people know in case they run across this thread. Just because it has Billy Cook Maker from Sulphur OK doesnt mean it’s real. I would highly encourage all who buy used to simply call them and let them validate from their record book. In this case, the obvious issue is that the serial is in an arch and not straight across. Also, the first two numbers are the year date code, and it should be followed by a space and 6 more numbers: XX XXXXXX

So…someone bought a fake billy cook and never knew it…and the original seller probably doesn’t know either.

[Dani]

Interesting. I was under the impression that they had shut that down when they sold. All the ones in my area are the Greenville ones, but I’m only about 30 miles from Greenville.