Used Saddle Pick of the Week: 16" Rafter W Wade Tree Saddle

The "Used Saddle Pick of the Week" Every week we scour the Internet searching for a particularly juicy bargain on a high quality used western saddle and feature it here on the WSG Saddle Blog. The saddles featured are listed for sale on ebay as of the date of the post.

The Western Saddle Guide is not the seller of the saddles featured and does not make any representations about them. We encourage all potential buyers to do their own due diligence on the seller and the saddle before purchasing.

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This week's pick is a high quality custom saddle for those folks looking to step up into the custom category.

Rafter W Saddlery, based in Rigby, Idaho (just down the road a bit from us here in southwest Montana), builds fine, handcrafted saddles in the buckaroo tradition. The base price on their saddles is around $2600 and they're worth every penny.

This week's pick is a very handsome 16" Wade Tree saddle from Rafter W. This saddle is quality from top to bottom and includes a matching breast collar. It has a rawhide-wrapped wood tree, in-skirt plate rigging, monel stirrups, brass hardware, tooling with a snake border and corner flowers, bucking rolls, and a 30" mohair cinch. There's no mention of gullet width - Wade trees are usually described in terms of degree of the bar angle (90,93,96), so ask the seller before buying.

This is a very nice saddle and won't come cheap. The current bidding, as of this writing, is only at $103.50, but the seller has a reserve and won't be letting it go cheap. His "Buy It Now" price is $2650 which probably is an indication of his reserve. That's probably at the high end of the market value for this well-cared for used custom saddle, so I'd be bidding south of that number.

We present the Saddle Blog's Used Saddle of the Week:

16" Rafter W Wade Tree Saddle

Check out other Rafter W Saddles for sale in our tack shop.