Edward Bohlin Saddle "Custom Parade Spurs"

- Edward Bohlin Saddle
- (1895-1980)
- Hollywood, California Artist / Saddle Maker
- "Custom Parade Spurs"
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Silver Mounted. Western Spurs, Horses, Saddles, Cowboys and More
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Biography

Edward Bohlin Saddle (1895-1980)

THE BOHLIN BRAND IS AS ICONIC AS THE FAMED WESTERN STARS that wore it. The late actor Richard Farnsworth sported a recognizable gold steer-head Bohlin buckle for decades, the engraving and edges worn smooth from years of daily wear, rodeo riding, and stunt work. When the Lone Ranger cried “Hi-yo, Silver!” as he rode to the rescue, both he and his white horse were equipped with Bohlin-made silver-mounted gear. Happily, The Bohlin Company that created these products in the 1940s continues today, maintaining original designs and traditions for fancy belt buckles and other jewelry in the mode of the company founder, all while innovating with new and exciting products to serve a contemporary audience.

Despite his cowboy credentials, when Ed Bohlin spoke there was an unmistakable residue of a Swedish accent that gave away his origins. He left the country of his birth when he was only 15 years old, arriving in New York in 1910 and immediately heading West, where by 1912 he was punching cattle in Montana. Four years later he was in Cody Wyoming, driving a stagecoach, working at area ranches, and learning to do leatherwork. He soon married and had a daughter, Lillian, but his wife tragically died in the influenza epidemic of 1918, leaving Bohlin alone to provide and care for his daughter.

After some crude attempts at fashioning silver and copper buckles, Bohlin opened his own leather shop in 1920. But after a second marriage failed, Bohlin – who had become proficient with twirling rope and shooting his Colt revolver – abandoned his business and joined a traveling Wild West show headed to the coast. It was just as well. His temper had gotten him in trouble with the law more than once, and it was time for him to move on.

Legend has it that during the show’s appearance at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, Bohlin was approached by silent film Cowboy Tom Mix, who wanted to purchase his handcrafted calf-skin jacket. Others soon recognized the flare in Bohlin’s style, and he began to appear as an extra in cowboy movies and started making tooled leather gear for stars like Mix, William S. Hart, and others. In 1922 he opened the Hollywood Novelty Leather Shop and scratched out a living by making special pieces

for film star Buck Jones and his wife Dell, who did stunt work. Major contracts to make leather outfits and harnesses for decidedly un-western films such as The Ten Commandments (1923) and Ben-Hur (1925) helped him keep solvent.

Bohlin’s firm was formally organized in Hollywood in 1926 as Edward H. Bohlin Inc. The shop moved many times over the next 19 years as the founder skillfully promoted his wares and developed some of the most enduring designs for Western-styled buckles, saddles, and accessories. He became a master of brand promotion, publishing lavish catalogs, turning his shop into a gathering place for real and imagined cowboys, and joining organizations like the exclusive men’s equestrian group, the Rancheros Vistadores, whose members then bought and displayed his products.

Bohlin’s ever expanding Hollywood associations included cowboy detective Charlie Siringo and artist Charlie Russell. He collaborated with Al Furstnow’s saddlery company, which was based in Montana but had set up a satellite shop in Hollywood, adding luxurious silver and gold embellishments to a saddle for Col. Tim McCoy, former Wyoming cowboy and first-rank cowboy movie star. Bohlin’s buckles, spurs, scarf slides, and jewelry could be spotted on Jackie Cooper, Clark Gable, John Wayne, Barbara Stanwyck, Clara Bow (the “It Girl” of the day), and scores more.

With the proliferation of low-budget western films, a new flock of performers took on the accessories of the Bohlin shop. Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd), the Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore and John Hart), Roy Rogers, Ray “Crash” Corrigan, The Cisco Kid (Duncan Renaldo), Pancho (Leo Carrillo), Ken Maynard, and more adopted Bohlin gear for both performances and personal wear.

Even in the middle of the Great Depression, The Bohlin Company flourished, in large part thanks to the still-wealthy customers who rode in Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses Parade. Fancy silver-mounted horse gear had been used to show off finely bred horses and the gentry of California since the 1800s, and well-known Hispanic pioneer families such as the Sepulvedas and Yorbas continued to use Bohlin gear to display their prized equines well into the next century. Bohlin himself claimed to have ridden in every parade from 1922 until 1973.

Around the world, especially with the advent of television, the annual broadcast of the Rose Parade reinforced a clear image of elegant equestrian riders. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Silver Mounted Posse, the Long Beach Mounted Police, and many private horse groups predominantly used Bohlin gear. While the claim that The Bohlin Company made over 12,000 saddles cannot be reliably documented, the business flourished in the 1930’s and ‘40s.

A new Bohlin store opened on Highland Avenue in Hollywood in 1945; it was a one-stop shop with a full line of Western clothing, boots, gloves, hats, and anything else needed by a stylishly dressed rider or horse. Complete tack sets and riding outfits went to the Emperor of Japan, South American oil magnates, and European royalty. Bohlin-made prize buckles were awarded at rodeos on California, Colorado, and beyond, and riders from Kansas City horse shows to Indianapolis Shriner parades to Central Park riding clubs all sported Bohlin gear.

By the 1960s business began to decline, so Bohlin diversified once again, developing new products ranging from a peculiar iron camping stove to aluminum rifle cases. Inspired by his hero Charlie Russell, he turned his own hand toward bronze sculptures of Western wildlife. But the greatest creative endeavors of his waning years took him back to the beginning, designing some of the most elegant buckles and saddles in the Highland shop’s history for loyal customers, as well as for himself.

Bohlin designed solid gold buckles set with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires for Gene Autry and businessman Adolph Weinberg, while featured in the center of the shop, shown off in a maple-trimmed glass case, was The Big Saddle, Bohlin’s personal rig that reportedly took 14 years to make. Filigree tooled leather is set off with corner plates and conchos made of sterling silver with three-color gold chased figures of rodeo performers and wildlife of the Pacific slope. Scenes of cowboys on bucking horses are taken directly from the art of Charlie Russell, while the cantle, pommel, and nose bands of the bridle are beautifully covered with chased nouveau designs and Indian heads with full-feathered headdresses.

The Bohlin Company changed hands many times beginning in 1980. Rumors of its demise revolved around the misguided actions of some owners; meanwhile others valiantly worked to maintain the standards of the firm. Despite (or because of) the uncertainty of the company’s future, prices for vintage Bohlin gear at auctions has escalated. In 1996 the Autry Museum of Western Heritage staged a 5,000 square-foot exhibition of the most famous Bohlin gear and published this writer’s book Saddlemaker to the Stars: The Leather and Silver Art of Edward H. Bohlin. The Big Saddle bought and donated by Gene Autry himself was the star of the show.

A young Ed Bohlin

Edward H Bohlin Company
Saddlery-Saddle Maker
1895-1980
BP: Sweden
LKL: Hollywood, CA.
Born in Sweden in 1895, Edward Bohlin ran away from home at age 15, working his way to America on a huge four-mast schooner with dreams of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West in his head. Ed worked cattle drives around Montana before opening his first saddle shop in Cody, Wyoming where he did rope tricks in front of his shop to draw business. He met Tom Mix while performing at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood and Mix convinced Ed to stay and produce silver and leather items in the Los Angeles area. From his humble beginnings to his fame in Hollywood for high-end pieces, Ed crafted more than 12,000 Bohlin saddles including many grand silver outfits of Tournament of Roses Parade fame. He also dressed many silver screen heroes and horses with his grand style of buckles, spurs and gun belts. His company was without equal among western style silversmiths building a reputation on flawless workmanship. The Edward H Bohlin company, which operated from the early 1920s through the 1980s (under Ed's watchful eye but continues to operate under other ownership), reached its apex in the 1930s when the Hollywood cowboys reigned supreme. Bohlin was a stickler for details and employed the finest silver and leather workers of his era to satisfy discriminating clients including Mae West, Hopalong Cassidy, Monte Hale, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan.

Bohlin Saddles

Roy Roger's Diamond Special Bohlin Saddle

Ed Bohlin was known for his beautifully crafted parade saddles. A perfectionist, for good and bad, he never accepted anything less than the best craftsmanship. The leather on his saddles still squeak after 60 years. The silver requires only a cloth to clean because he used the highest grade of sterling. He and his artisans made many of the pieces by hand, especially the gold figures on his saddles. His carving was stunning and recognizable. Many of High Noon's customers remember going into Bohlin's shop as children while their fathers' purchased saddles, buckles, belts, bolos and money clips. Sometimes the kids got a special gift, too, from their dads. A few child's saddles (The Jackie Cooper model) were made to match their fathers for parades. The Tim McCoy model and others were made for the stars of the era. Fiesta was truly a work of art, both in the silver and the pictorial carving. The Murietta was one of his brilliant models, mounted with Indian and Tepee design with distant hills all done in three shades of gold. The Dicksons were used many times for riders who wanted to twinkle with silver in parades. Bohlin saddles have always been valued higher than any other maker and have kept their value throughout the years. Both riders and collectors of Western Americana still clamor for Bohlin, whether they plan to ride using them or only to display them proudly in their offices or living rooms as art.

Bohlin Buckles

Edward H. Bohlin's personal filigreed gold buckle

Ed wanted the riders of his saddles to look elegant and match the beauty and artistry of the outfit. He made fine matching vests, chaps, belts, gun belts, bolos, hatbands, and buckles to dress his riders. The most personal of Bohlin's buckles were made, some by his own hand. He made buckles to honor horses, longhorns, rodeos, ranches and women. He used sterling silver, gold (in 3 colors) rubies, diamonds. He cut the metals to form lacy overlays and bound the edges to look like rope. Matching gun belts were made of the same fine leather of the saddles with the same elegant silver spots and engraving. Special gun grips were fastened to Colts and other pistols and shotguns, all sterling silver and gold, with matching buckles. Bohlin spurs are also highly coveted. Bohin made magic with plain Crockett blanks when he covered them with fine silver and gold, making leather straps and conchos to match. The same for bits, which were highly sought after and matched the headstalls and breast collars of the parade outfits. Bohlin also had a sense of humor and would make anything the clients wanted. Mae West was a favorite and he fashioned a sterling silver telephone for her use. He made silver picture frames, pin, conchos, bolos, satchels and desk sets. Bohlin loved his customers, and they loved him. Memories of Ed in his shop are still vivid whenever you slip that leather belt around your waist and cinch it up with that Bohlin buckle.

It all started in the Wild West — Cody, Wyoming, to be exact. At the time, just a few years shy of the era known as the “Roaring ’20s,” Cody was a frontier town located on the fringes of Yellowstone National Park. The area’s wide-open ranges and rivers were teeming with wildlife, and Cody’s dusty streets were filled with cowboys, one of whom was named Edward H. Bohlin.

Bohlin followed the long-trodden path of a typical American dreamer by immigrating to the United States from Sweden at just 15 years old. He landed in New York City, but the call of the West quickly drew him out across the plains. It wasn’t long before he was a Western horse-riding, cattle-herding cowboy through and through. Bohlin opened a leather shop in Cody in 1920 that began the Bohlin Company, a luxury buckles and accessories brand celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Perhaps it’s fitting that a story about becoming a cowboy in the Wild West would also be a tale of making it big in Hollywood. That’s exactly what happened for Bohlin. Life’s twists and turns led Bohlin to take up a second career as a performer in a Wild West show headed to California. There he befriended movie cowboy Tom Mix. It was reportedly Mix who convinced Bohlin to try his hand at staying in Los Angeles, relocating his shop there to supply his work to the movie industry. In the decades that followed, Bohlin would become known for his beautifully intricate leather and silversmith work, designing buckles, saddles, gun holsters, and more for many of the brightest western stars of the silver screen as well as notable figures off-screen.

“One of my earliest childhood memories is Hopalong Cassidy. I had a little cowboy hat, the vest and the gun, the boots. Roy Rogers, the Lone Ranger, and Gene Autry, they were my childhood heroes,” Bohlin Company CEO Dave Marold says, speaking from the present-day company headquarters in Dallas. “I grew up watching them, and to be part of that and be in charge of maintaining the legacy of my childhood heroes, protecting that and trying to teach people about it going forward [is special]. I am trying to keep the West alive in the minds of the younger generation.”

Marold bought the Bohlin Company in 1999, effectively saving it from a period of upheaval resulting from multiple changes of ownership and struggle following Bohlin’s death in 1980. Marold says he feels a responsibility to keep the glory of the company alive, but he’s quick to add that the brand speaks for itself in its staples of artisanship, quality, and prestige.

Those childhood heroes of Marold’s, such as John Wayne and Rogers, all sported Bohlin designs in their time, but the legacy reached far beyond movie sets. Ed Bohlin rode in his first Tournament of Roses Parade in 1924, and by 1939, a majority of the parade’s equestrians outfitted their mounts in stunning tack built by Bohlin, which were seen by millions of TV viewers each year. Over the years, designs under the brand have become coveted, with many taking top dollar at auction. A Bohlin saddle from The Lone Ranger television show sold for more than $150,000 in 2018, and the Bohlin saddle for Rogers’ famous horse, Trigger, sold for more than double that amount.

The reputation of the Bohlin brand has persisted, and today, business is thriving. According to Marold’s son Doug, who helps run the outfit, the Bohlin Company doesn’t just owe its longevity to the brand’s eminence, they owe it to customers.

“For us, it’s a testament to what [Edward Bohlin] did, who he was, and it’s also a testament to our customers, because obviously we wouldn’t be here without them, and we have some of the best customers in the world,” Doug Marold says. Bohlin’s fans still include celebrities and top business figures, but also everyday hardworking cowboys and cowgirls. It’s the Western lifestyle that ties them together. “It’s an honor to be in the Western industry because we have some of the nicest, most honest, incredible people that we get the opportunity to work with every day.”

The main focus of retail these days is belt buckles, trophy buckles and modest dress pieces alike, still made with innate silver and gold carvings typical of the brand, and still done the old-fashioned way with the long-honed talent of silversmiths who’ve been with the company for years. Some of Bohlin’s artisans even moved with the company from California to Texas in 2005. Beyond the buckles, engraved money clips and jewelry have become a hit for the company, which incorporates its history into each piece. “Part of what makes our company so cool is that the steel dies and equipment that made the original buckles are still used by the company today,” Marold says. In other words, a buckle made in the shop today could be cut from the same die as the buckles adorning your favorite western heroes.

“We create with the same technology and equipment from the 1930s,” Marold says. “We like to work with clients to design an heirloom-quality piece that represents the heritage of their family. This is the legacy that we protect. This is what Bohlin means to me.”

To celebrate 100 years in business, this year’s anniversary buckles will incorporate innovative 3D designs never before seen in the buckle industry, according to Marold. The pieces will also boast a special engraving of a vintage football shaped Bohlin hallmark used from the 1930s through the 1950s in place of the current company hallmark. Marold anticipates they’ll produce about 800 special anniversary buckles this year. To him, time has flown toward this significant milestone.

“I still can’t fathom the fact that the company is 100 years old,” Marold says. “All it means is that we’ve done a lot of things right for a long period of time, and I think if Ed was here today, he would be very pleased with where the company is.” And where Bohlin is, it appears, is still close to the hearts of those who love the West.

Bohlin Through the Decades

1920: Edward H. Bohlin, a young Swedish immigrant turned cowboy, opens his first leather shop in the frontier town of Cody, Wyoming. By the mid-1920s, Bohlin has relocated his shop to Hollywood and his work is featured in adventure and western movies.

1930s: Early film stars and notable equestrians catch on to the Bohlin brand, helping to spur its popularity on- and off-screen.

1940s: Bohlin’s shop takes up residence at a prime new Hollywood location on Highland Avenue, where the company continues its track to great renown, making custom saddles and tack that are shipped worldwide. John Wayne rides in a Bohlin saddle during this time.

1950s: The Lone Ranger star Clayton Moore dons a masterpiece Bohlin gun belt befitting the famous cowboy character, but Bohlin buckles also infiltrate the horse show, parade, and professional rodeo scenes, becoming cherished pieces for everyday cowboys and cowgirls around the country.

1960s: Bohlin expands his silver and gold artistry into sculptures and more, but the focus on his high-quality saddles and belt buckles is not lost. Some of Bohlin’s most sought-after pieces are created during this time.

1970s: Business continues as usual for the Bohlin Company, but Ed himself, now reaching his 80s, slows down, eventually retiring from the company.

1980s: Edward H. Bohlin passes away in 1980, beginning a period of change for the company in which it has multiple owners. Yet the Bohlin brand maintains its high profile, even appearing in Larry Hagman’s wardrobe on the popular TV show Dallas.

1990s: The Autry Museum of the American West honors Edward H. Bohlin with an extensive exhibit and publishes the biographical book Saddlemaker to the Stars: The Leather and Silver Art of Edward H. Bohlin by James Nottage in 1996, amid uncertainty about the company’s future. Dave Marold, along with a group of investors, buys the Bohlin Company in 1999.

2000s: Marold begins work to strengthen the company’s foundation, focusing on preserving the legacy of the brand while sustaining Bohlin for the future. Marold transfers the company headquarters from California to Texas, bringing with him many of the talented artisans already working for Bohlin.

2010s: The Bohlin brand is celebrated at many of the nation’s biggest events, offering custom buckles for sale at the National Finals Rodeo’s Cowboy Christmas in Las Vegas each year and designing and presenting the winning buckle for the Indianapolis 500 in 2010.

Photography: Images courtesy the Bohlin Company