Does anyone know how to determine the age of a Stuben Siegfried saddle by serial number? Mine is stamped 5393, and I have no idea how old it is. It IS in beautiful condition!
You can’t tell from the serial, but you can email the serial number to Stubben and they can look it up. info@stubbennorthamerica.com
I found an article online once that had some great info on dating older Stubbens. Wish I could find it again. I remember that there are some obvious clues: if the padded knee flap is made of smooth leather, it’s probably from the 90s (or more recently); suede flaps are older. The buttons are also helpful: blue are recent, plain silver buttons started to be used in, I think, the early 70s; the silver buttons with the Stubben logo are older (as I recall). I wish I could find the article.
Sometimes you can get specific info on your saddle from Stubben North America, but their records go back only so far.
Mine is at least from the 90s (smooth flap), and Stubben NA told me their records didn’t even go back that far when I sent them my serial number 
a four digit number like OPs has to be quite old. My first Stubben didn’t even have a serial number as far as I could tell, unless someone replaced the billet guard with a different unstamped Stubben one at some time. It has the plain silver buttons and I know it is very old.
NOt to derail, but does anybody know what the GREEN buttons signify?
[QUOTE=hank;8478358]
NOt to derail, but does anybody know what the GREEN buttons signify?[/QUOTE]
We had a very old Stubben at my first barn that was made in Ireland, and I know the maker’s plate on it was green. Can’t remember what the buttons looked like.
Ireland Stubbens are from 1969-1970, iirc. Saddles were only made in Ireland for 2 years. Stubben can tell you that much but the serial number records don’t go that far back.
I just sent off a serial number today. I was mostly hoping for just a rough age. I assume it’s a plain flap siegfried. A friend found it in a thrift shop and got it for close to nothing and she was like you can have it if you want. Measures at 17 from dot to mid cantle. Has a few scratches along the cantle but nothing too bad. It’s got plain metal buttons and has a serial number of A39526 with a 32 underneath so wide tree and 17" is what I know for sure so far lol.
Photo: http://tinypic.com/r/29bkkjl/9
We are currently stationed in Germany so I’m sure these saddles are a dime a dozen but I was like free stubben?!? Yeah give it to me! Lol
