Cowboy Spurs Makers – The Big Three

If you become interested in buying cowboy spurs or western spurs, you will soon become aware of the makers who are referred to as “The Big 3″! These 3 makers are the people who are responsible for making cowboy spurs what we know them as today. They were the trail blazers of their time and excellent business men as well as craftsmen. They knew how to mass market their spurs to the likes of cowhands as well as the cavalry and army too.

August Buermann, the first of our 3 was not even American. He was born in Germany and it is was not until the age of 22, after he had travelled to America to complete training in becoming a locksmith that he was able to start making cowboy spurs. Buermann was so good at making these spurs, he attracted the attention of the US mounted cavalry and soon they were all wearing his spurs too.

Buermann spurs are easily identifiable by their Star Brand logo which is usually located under or near the buttons of the side of the spur. Despite his success and fame, the Buermann company and trademark was bought in 1914 by North and Judd, another large and established hardware company.

The North and Judd company went on to become one of “The Big 3″ makers and were eventually responsible for kitting out the US army and mounted cavalry in the American Civil War. Even though the company started before 1800, it is known that they had over 500 people working for them at their peak in 1878. The makers mark of North & Judd spurs is the Anchor Brand or mark which can be found stamped into the spurs.

Another of The Big 3 is the Crockett spurs company, started by Oscar Crockett in the early 1900s. Oscar learnt the skills to make Cowboy Spurs from his brother and began to make custom sets of spurs to order as well as standard aluminum or steel spurs for the mass market.

When the Crockett company purchased the Shipley Spurs outfit in 1940, they were making and selling over 170 types of spurs from their catalogs. Crockett spurs are marked with the word CROCKETT or C&G.

Although we have covered the 3 companies in “The Big 3″, we also need to talk about the company owned by Jim Renalde. The Renalde spurs company ended up owning some of the other major spur making companies and at it’s height was the largest maker of spurs in America. Renalde owned the Kelly Bit and Spur company and also bought Crockett Spurs too.

The Renalde company was also a popular maker of saddles, buckles and other horse tack and blacksmith items. Eventually, Renalde became the largest manufacturer of Cowboy Spurs in America until it was closed down in 1980, taking with it a long history and smaller companies and names it had purchased over the years.

No related posts.