Antique Bits

[aladatrot]

These are the old bits I bought. I can't find any makers marks but I REALLY like the long shanked one. You don't see that type of wear on the rings if the thing wasn't used. The other bits are similar to a modern "toilet paper bits" (the kind they sell as toilet paper holders and come installed on every cheap bridle ever sold - you know the kind). The difference being the thickness of the metal used in the cheeks and shanks. These bits are HEAVY. I doubt they are worth much money by collectors standards, but I love them.

Cheers
M

[RockinW]

cool.  pretty sure the two short shanked bits are either buermanns or anchors, and i suspect the long one is too. i have one  like the one with the narrow port that has the anchor stamp on the outside of the right cheek, between the mouth and the headstall ring, but i also have a reprint buermann catalogue showing same pattern. but every body copied each others patterns back then, just like now. buermanns had a very small star stamp. both stamps can be hard to find after years of rust and use.

[craig]

Luke,  my first thought was anchor as well..         

Mandy, those old bits are alot of fun to mess with.  Luke knows alot about bits and spurs if you need any advice..

[aladatrot]

I know this thread is old, but I just today got in contact with the lady who owns the place where the bits came from. Happy Hollow is an old homestead, not a ghost town. There are three homes there, and the ranch owner has fixed up the main house for a hunting cabin or in case it snows and you get caught up there. The homestead is at the very top of a mountain, and the settlers were certain they would find the mother lode. The women farmed turnips and potatoes which they sold in Masonville to earn money. The mine would produce veins of gold here and there, but never enough to be considered a living - even back then.

The families consisted of a mother and father in the main house, and their two daughters with their respective husbands in the two homes flanking it. One year, they experienced an 11 foot snowfall. Fort Collins started tunneling to Happy Hollow, and Happy Hollow tried tunneling to Ft Collins. They were snowed in for weeks. The patriarch died, and they stored his body in the snow until the ground thawed enough to bury him.

I'm sending photos of the bits via snail mail to the ranch owner. She in turn is sending me a written history of the site. Said she has some old bits from Happy Hollow herself, and that she is tickled that someone else is interested in the history of the place.

Cheers
M

[jdt]

thats neat mandy !   your talking about snow and mountain tops , what part of texas is that in ?

[aladatrot]

Actually, the bits are from Colorado. Northern Colorado in Larimer County outside of Ft Collins. Rocky mountains. I do prefer historical items from Texas, but I like anything old and western. I love New Mexico history - the wild and wooly days before statehood. I love all things gunslinger, outlaw, and cowboy in the late 1800's. I guess you would call them the cattle heyday. Colorado doesn't too much figure into the Old West as I see it, but these bits were pretty cool.

Cheers!
M