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Al Furstnow Leather Chaps Miles City, Montana

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:350.00 - 700.00 USD
Al Furstnow Leather Chaps Miles City, Montana
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For your consideration is this pair of batwing chaps made at the Al Furstnow Saddlery in Miles City, Montana. The chaps are believed to date to the circa 1910-1920’s. Al Furstnow departed the Omaha, Nebraska saddlery of J.S. Collins in 1885 and began working in Miles City, Montana for both the Moran Bros. and Robbins & Lenoir saddleries. By 1894 he started his own business, Al. Furstnow, which lasted only five months before he formed a partnership with Charls Coggshall, and the firm was known as Furstnow & Coggshall Saddlery. After the demise of Furstnow & Coggshall, Albert Frank Furstnow established his own business, Al. Furstnow Saddlery, in Miles City, Montana in 1899. A Furstnow made saddle was claimed to be, “the saddle that made Miles City famous” as his saddles were sold to movie stars such as Jack Hoxie, Tim McCoy, Tom Mix and Cisco Kid along with Governor Stewart of Montana in 1913 and as trophies for competitions such as the Miles City Roundup. Later, due to the decline in saddlery needs at the advent of the automobile revolution, Al Furstnow began his Los Angeles, California saddlery shop using the famed “HOLLYWOOD” stamp. During this time, circa 1921, Al Moreno Furstnow’s acclaimed leather worker and later his son-in-law assumed ownership of the Al. Furstnow Saddlery in Miles City. The Al. Furstnow Saddlery continued to make saddles and Western leather goods with the Al Furstnow Miles City, Montana stamp until 1946, when the Saddlery closed. The shop continued to sell Western Wear until 1986. The originally buck colored chaps are now quite worn and stained from many years of use; even so, the chaps are in very good condition, having no rips or tears. Belt and side clips are still intact, as are the four brass conchos that run down each leg. The chaps are stamped "Al Furstnow/ Miles City, Mont." They measure 39" long. “Saddleries of Montana – Montana’s Makers from Territorial Times to 1940” by Jay C. Lyndes, Bobby R. Reynolds, and E. Helene Sage was used as a reference for this description.