Product code: Bedell Roger's RARE hand online tooled belt
Exceptional piece of Texas history! This is a black leather hand tooled belt measuring 40" long 4.5mm wide with silver buckle and belt loops. Bedell died in Oct 1994 at the age of 80. In his youth he broke horses after school and helped in his Father's (Robert Rogers)saddle shop. He also rodeoed professionally for 15 years riding broncos and bulls. After suffering injuries he retired from the rodeo circuit and joined Robert making saddles and other leather goods in Longview. Robert was Bedell's toughest critic and it wasn't until Bedell had made 200 saddles did Robert admit that perhaps his son did know leather work. Bedell made leather gear that "did not break" and was still making saddles by hand at the age of 78. While he did make saddles for movie stars such as Tex Ritter, Tom Mix, Ben Johnson and William Boyd (Hoppalong Cassidy), most of his saddles went to working cowmen and rodeo hands. In fact at one point it was a mark of online a professional rodeo rider to have a Bedell saddle.
Exceptional piece of Texas history! This is a black leather hand tooled belt measuring 40" long 4.5mm wide with silver buckle and belt loops. Bedell died in Oct 1994 at the age of 80. In his youth he broke horses after school and helped in his Father's (Robert Rogers)saddle shop. He also rodeoed professionally for 15 years riding broncos and bulls. After suffering injuries he retired from the rodeo circuit and joined Robert making saddles and other leather goods in Longview. Robert was Bedell's toughest critic and it wasn't until Bedell had made 200 saddles did Robert admit that perhaps his son did know leather work. Bedell made leather gear that "did not break" and was still making saddles by hand at the age of 78. While he did make saddles for movie stars such as Tex Ritter, Tom Mix, Ben Johnson and William Boyd (Hoppalong Cassidy), most of his saddles went to working cowmen and rodeo hands. In fact at one point it was a mark of online a professional rodeo rider to have a Bedell saddle.