| Boer War Page 93t3 |
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More important Canadian antique memorabilia the Museum has recently preserved.
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Victorian - Edwardian Horse Memorabilia 1887-1902 - 3 |
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| This fine antique brass was issued to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887, and though it shows a polished front, from the attention of many keen - but misguided - owners over the years, the back is untouched. It shows the dark uneven grime that gradually builds up on the unpolished backs on real antique brasses that the repros just do not have. The crispness of the lettering also separates this from the muddied edging that is seen so often in dupes made from second or third generation repros. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Two versions of King Edward found in Canada are this solid God Save the King example, and the other Edward the Peacemaker with cut outs below. Both sides show age burn, the pitting and patchwork of dark blemishes that cannot be manufactured by the repro men. This one had two holes punched in to allow riveting to some leather piece of horse tack. It is also irregularly bowed and shows clear hammer marks on the back, unlike the machine stamped ones below which are uniformly flat and do not.
All four pieces on this page are fine examples of the three manufacturing process used to make antique horse brasses in late Victorian times. |
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Great Canadian Heritage Treasure
One of the strong indicators of an antique brass, besides the blotchy dark patina, is the ancient white residue left behind when brasso was used to polish the front and dripped onto the back. Some of the white turns grey through time betraying generations of polishing.
A fine brass that is unusual because it features a registry mark for the year that it was issued. Another indicator of age burn is the bright highlight rimming where the dark staining left by age burn, in the middle of the ring, has been rubbed off by jangling about against the leather while on a working horse.
Sadly, polished like new on the front... But the back tells the tale of a hundred years of grimy encounters on a succession of work horses.
A rare cast horse brass of Joseph Chamberlain, who was Colonial Secretary during the late Victorian, and early Edwardian eras. His sons Austen and Neville played leading roles in the early 20th centuries in British and world politics, Neville bringing home the Peace in Our Time document after a visit with Herr Hitler at Munich in 1938. A year later, World War II began.
A very rare and fabulous Queen Victoria bust horse brass.
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| Simply Fabulous! When, ever, in a lifetime, will you come across two such fabulous pieces of historical memorabilia horse brass, still on their original leather mounts, such as these?
In a world of mostly reproduction horse brasses, these martingale mounted antique brasses are rare indeed. This leather is at least a century old and once dangled the horse brasses on a Canadian work horse's chest. The brasses have never left the worn loops on to which they were sewn by a saddle maker so long ago. |
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| The crispness of the edging in the letters and the patchy staining on the back are hallmarks of real antique brasses. The backs are actually considerably darker than the photos show. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Otto Bushnell Moody - 2 CMR 1901-1902
This fabulous military martingale was used by Pvt. Otto Moody above, from Montreal, who went overseas in 1901, as a member of the Canadian Mounted Rifles. He was only 18. Being the whelp in the litter, he was endlessly picked on for practical jokes by the men in his contingent. Shortly after arriving in South Africa - Otto's letters tell us - his horse was stolen. But the men of his company rallied to his side and presented him with a new one they had specially picked for him. Otto must have been proud when gleaming eyes surrounded him as they presented him a new pony. Trouble was, as Otto discovered when he tried to mount it, it was an unbroken bucking bronco, and threw him for a mighty tumble, much to the predictable merriment of his helpful comrades in the regiment. But, the proud teen would not be made fun of. In letters to his sister Beth he wrote that he persevered, being thrown time and again until he and the pony became very good friends, thanks no doubt to the martingale and cinch belt left, which Otto used in South Africa. The running martingale, or training fork, was used to keep a horse from rearing, by holding down its head so it couldn't buck. The numerous saw marks the martingale made on the belly strap can be clearly seen, testifying to the many times Otto was thrown.
Above is an example of how Otto would have set up his running martingale. The optional neck strap, if Otto had one, has not survived. It was used to hold back the dangling martingale strap so the horse, if running or jumping, would not, inadvertently, step through the loop and fall, with possibly deadly consequences for the rider. More than a few Boer War soldiers and officers died after falling from horses in one way or another. Otto's fabulous running martingale and cinch belt were among his South African War treasures that he kept all his life. Left, are the spurs Otto wore in South Africa and accompanied him to the ground on many occasions... Like all the other Moody memorabilia - with the exception of the martingale and cinch belt - these are signed as belonging to Otto, either in his handwriting, or as on the spur straps, stamped with his regimental number D 48, i.e. Trooper #48, of D Squadron (2CMR). All Otto's memorabilia from the war, including some 20 letters home, were found in a trunk in an abandoned house in Montana.
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Left from the estate of a Boer War era member of the RNWMP is a snaffle bit, featuring its customary jointed mouthpiece.
Otto probably used a snaffle bit like this with his running martingale above. It was designed to gently work on all parts of a horse's mouth and is considered a mild bit because it is non-leverage and does not amplify the pressure exerted by the rider on the horse's mouth. The joint gives when one side is pulled and does not ram around inside the horse's mouth, especially on the opposite side. |
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This Boer War era curb bit belonged to the same RNWMP trooper as the snaffle bit.
Western riders - they're a tougher, no nonsense bunch - generally used to prefer the curb bit - with a solid bar for a mouthpiece - which amplifies the pressure on a horse's mouth. When one pulls the rein on one side the entire bar starts to ram around, prying off the inside of the horse's mouth, showing him that the rider means business. The jointed mouthpiece, which acts as a non-levering shock absorber, is missing in this bit. Western riders were used to catching and training wild horses, which was not a money-making enterprise but a necessary time wasting exercise on the frontier. So anything which could speed up the process, and show the horse who was boss, like the curb bit left, was preferred.. Riders in the east were generally dealing only with broken, relatively tame riding horses, so preferred the more gentle snaffle bit. Otto was such a sensitive soul. Letters to his sister show he regarded horses more as pets, even when they were unbroken. Perhaps life in the wilds of South Africa toughened this softie city boy so that, in the end, he gave in to using the curb instead of the snaffle bit... |
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| It is extremely rare to find works of memorabilia art with provenance to a particular original owner.
Such is not the case with this unique set of memorabilia items, above and left. This fabulous memorabilia print was painted by Art Hider to celebrate the Canadian participation in the Coronation March of 1911. It was acquired by a Staff Sergeant in the Royal North West Mounted Police, who was one of the red coats shown trotting past Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier. It retains its original frame and wavy glass. Accompanying it was the fabulous brass RCMP breastplate martingale Below, one of the men below was our guy cheered by hundreds of thousands in the streets of London Left below, RNWMP training for the parade in Canada, weeks before going overseas. The men here are using a sort of standing martingale of white rope, attached to the noseband instead of the reins. |
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c Goldi Productions Ltd. 1996 & 2000
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