Question about saddle value and age

[pennylane16]

Hey All,

I am currently in the market for a new (pre loved)saddle but am trying to keep it budget friendly. I’ve been looking at some of the nice French made saddles (CWD,Butet, Bruno Delgrange,etc) but have noticed a huge difference in prices for different saddles of the same year. For example it seems that CWD doesn’t hold its value as well as say a Butet or Bruno. I’ve seen 20+ year old Butet’s with people asking $2400 yet a 9 year old CWD is selling for $2200 and is in just as good if not better condition. I’ve also noticed the Bruno’s seem to hold their value quite a bit better than the CWD’s.

Has anyone else noticed a difference in loss of value for certain brands? I personally don’t think a 9 year old saddle is very old and would expect a $5000-$6000 saddle to hold more value. Anyone else have thoughts or previous experiences?

Thanks everyone!!

[Elouise]

People can ask what they want for a saddle. It doesn’t mean they are going to get it. If you look at the Saddle resale websites; in general they price them based on past sales (a good indication of value). While if you go on EBay, people price their Saddles any way they want. The sellers set the price.

I have bought two off private sellers and I paid much less than they were originally asking, but I paid what Saddle resellers were getting for them. So it wasn’t like I got a huge ‘deal’.

Saddles are worth what someone is willing to pay for them. Some brands hold their value more than others and sell like hot cakes and others have a little more market saturation, so maybe those sellers are a tad more flexible on price. Price and motivation.

[comeoutandplay]

Supply and demand, the market is flooded with used CWDs right now, delgranges and Butets are harder to come by

[vxf111]

Don’t pay that much for a 20 year old Butet!

[Scribbler]

In general a used saddle should be no more than 50% of retail unless it really is as new and very recent. I would expect to pay 50% of retail for say a 10 year old unused saddle that is just shop worn never used. They go down from there depending on condition.

The currently popular French saddles are expensive new, and popular, but the soft leather may show serious wear sooner than the older brands.

Most importantly as noted above private sellers are free to ask any price they want, and buyers are free to make an offer. It’s just like buying a horse! I would look at the more successful online consignment stores to get an idea of real prices. But even consignment stores do discounts and will bargain. Also if a private seller puts a saddle on consignment they get just a fraction of the selling price so if you lowball a private seller it’s likely more than they’d get from consignment and they know it

[SFA]

Accord to 3 popular french brands I’ve dealth with they value tends to go down by 500$ each year but once it hits around 50% of its original value it tends to stay there. So most of these saddles fall into the 2k-3k range most are around 2,300 i find. Now if the saddle has flaws, discoloration tears ect. the price would fall below that. It doesnt surprise me that a 20 year old and a 9 year old saddle are priced the same if they are in similar condition.
I see now more of the 10+ year old saddles going around 1500 for a quick sale but they get snapped up fast. I would just be careful as much as i love my french foam saddle. I also have a 10+ year old keepsake saddle and the pannels are quite torn up after SO MUCH use

[Go_Fish]

I have a DelGrange Original that’s probably 20 years old. I’ve turned down more than what I paid for it. Evidently it’s a great saddle (it is) and people don’t ever let them go.

[Renn_aissance]

A 9-year-old saddle is not very old if it was owned by one person and used on one horse. If it were owned by a someone who used it all day every day on multiple horses, it will have more wear to the leathers, but also significantly more wear to the panels (and you should budget for replacement.) I would expect a top price of around $2k for a 10-year-old saddle with a popular configuration in excellent condition, with the price decreasing under that according to demand and condition. The 2002 Butet whose seller wants $2400 belongs to someone who does not seriously want to sell that saddle. I do think that the older PJ Delgranges have a certain cachet and command a higher price point as they are simply no longer available.

I just finished (I hope) shopping for 2 saddles, so I’ve had my eye on the private sale and tack shop consignment market since March of this year. I’ve seen a fair number of 20-year-old [somethings] for sale and if you look at the panels, they are compressed thin. That’s a sign that the foam has degraded with age. Your horse does not want that and it is a $500-700 repair from the manufacturer for most brands.

Now, if you are budget-conscious and you and your horse are a hard-to-fit combination, this can be a great way to get a good saddle on a budget. I was recently looking for an unusual seat size + flap size combination for me, plus an uncommon panel configuration for the horse, which I knew was going to be a challenge to find used. I went shopping with an eye towards finding that human configuration in an older “scratch and dent” type of model and getting it re-paneled by the manufacturer to suit my horse. If you do this, make sure you know that the panels you want can be applied. For instance, Devoucoux and CWD have both changed their tree design in such a way that they are not able to put their newer style of panel on saddles over a certain age, and if you are thinking “I will go with wool,” make sure you have a saddler who’s said they can do this before buying as not everyone is prepared to change these out.

[Belmont]

Anyone can ask anything for a saddle. Someone’s advertising a Pessoa for $3k right now 😂

That being said, the market for saddles right now is sitting at ~$3k for the high end when private selling. I’ve got a barely used 2018 2Gs that’s hard to find that I couldn’t give away at the moment, unfortunately… cause it’s not a Madem (the more popular 2Gs at the moment). I’ve had people offer me $2500 for it though…

There are more butets out there for sale than you think, many are just older and yes priced high because people are proud of their butets and butets haven’t been problematic since the “butet back” saga years ago. Bruno’s are HARD to find used and yes, generally priced accordingly because of that. Bruno’s also only make X amount of saddles per year, so most people hold onto theirs forever. They are also not a “vogue” saddle like Voltaire and CWD and were never part of the “GIVEAWAY TO ALL THE TRAINERS!!” marketing ploy.

Ultimately, no matter the saddle, people will ask whatever they want for it and likely sell it for a different price at the end of the day or hold onto it forever until their unicorn comes along. Sometimes personal value is worth more than retail.

[gottagrey]

OP, where are you located, I’ve got a Bruno DelGrange for sale. 17" great condition for sale. I’m in Maryland

[DawgLady]

I’m just starting to market my 2006 L’apogee 17.5" if you’re interested. I’m the original owner, and I don’t ride a ton (and I took several years off), so it’s in really good shape. Not terribly expensive.