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John Cox Canon City Spurs

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:5,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
John Cox Canon City Spurs
John Cox, Colorado State penitentiary Spurs maker-marked with his prisoner No 4307 in the steel on the underside of both shanks. Target Pattern with floral engraved mountings. Initials ESD stamped on the off-side shank and ED on the mounted shank of the left spur (see provenance, below), barrel chap guard, original line stamped two-piece leathers with buckles. Excellent, 100% original condition, c 1920s PROVENANCE: “My Grandfather, Elmer Stratford Doutre - hence the initials ESD, owned them for at least 80 years. He bought them when he was 18 years old, while working on a ranch in Nevada. My father originally told me he owned them for about 55 years, but my grandmother, who is 91 now, told me he purchased them in the 1920's. They were purchased while he lived in Nevada, but I'm not positive he purchased them within that state. My grandfather gave them to my father 25 yrs ago, and they have been in his possession since. My grandfather was born in western Utah and moved with his family to the White Pine, NV ranch at a very young age. Being raised on a ranch, he naturally grew up on a horse. As a teenager, he began breaking wild horses for pay. He and those he worked for, caught wild horses in the Schell Creek Range, as well as what is now the Humbolt National Forest and the area that is now the Goshute Indian Reservation. He broke horses for a living, until my grandmother decided he'd broken too many ribs. In 1945 he enlisted in the armed services, and gave up breaking horses for good.”