Ted Flowers sterling silver parade saddle with horseheads. Complete with corona. Bridle having pistol bits, breastplate and serapes. 15" padded seat.
During the 1940s, Edward Anderson “Ted” Flowers began making saddles at his shop in Anderson. He then moved to Alexandria where he opened Saddles on Parade on Indiana 9, just south of town. It was there where Flowers not only produced most of his saddles, but also manufactured his own steel dyes for stamping patterns into the leather. The saddle maker most often used German silver, stainless steel, Sterling silver, brass, and copper to decorate his saddles. The fancier saddles featured an Indian head or horse head decoration, and sometimes a 14-caret gold inlay. The saddles weighed anywhere from seventy-five to one-hundred-fifty pounds. It wasn’t uncommon for Western movie legends Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey to buy equipment from Flowers. The cowboy stars would land their private planes at Alexandria’s Knott’s Airport just a mile away and go almost unnoticed by fellow customers at Saddles on Parade.
PERIOD: Mid 20th Century
ORIGIN: Indiana, United States