Gal-Leg Spurs attributed to Pate Boone, c. 1930 - 1940
DESCRIPTIONThese antique gal-leg spurs made by Pate Boone are a special set, with their oversized scale – big spurs for big boots with big rowels to match.
With a simple lady’s leg design all of one metal along the shank and a clean copper diamond embellishment on the heel band to match the copper leather button cover, you know these spurs were well used by their original owner by the warm aged feel of both the leather buckles and the metal of the spurs themselves.
This pair of spurs is attributed to "Pecos" Pate, Wild West Show cowboy and one of the most famous spur makers in history.
See history & context below.
DETAILS & MEASUREMENTSEach measures 12" length x 6" width
Oversized in scale
Long, large 6 point star rowels with 2.75" diameter
Worn leather and buckles from age & use, along with a light rusty patina throughout the metal pieces
No maker's mark, common for the Boones
DESCRIPTIONThese antique gal-leg spurs made by Pate Boone are a special set, with their oversized scale – big spurs for big boots with big rowels to match.
With a simple lady’s leg design all of one metal along the shank and a clean copper diamond embellishment on the heel band to match the copper leather button cover, you know these spurs were well used by their original owner by the warm aged feel of both the leather buckles and the metal of the spurs themselves.
This pair of spurs is attributed to "Pecos" Pate, Wild West Show cowboy and one of the most famous spur makers in history.
See history & context below.
DETAILS & MEASUREMENTSEach measures 12" length x 6" width
Oversized in scale
Long, large 6 point star rowels with 2.75" diameter
Worn leather and buckles from age & use, along with a light rusty patina throughout the metal pieces
No maker's mark, common for the Boones
DESCRIPTIONThese antique gal-leg spurs made by Pate Boone are a special set, with their oversized scale – big spurs for big boots with big rowels to match.
With a simple lady’s leg design all of one metal along the shank and a clean copper diamond embellishment on the heel band to match the copper leather button cover, you know these spurs were well used by their original owner by the warm aged feel of both the leather buckles and the metal of the spurs themselves.
This pair of spurs is attributed to "Pecos" Pate, Wild West Show cowboy and one of the most famous spur makers in history.
See history & context below.
DETAILS & MEASUREMENTSEach measures 12" length x 6" width
Oversized in scale
Long, large 6 point star rowels with 2.75" diameter
Worn leather and buckles from age & use, along with a light rusty patina throughout the metal pieces
No maker's mark, common for the Boones
➼ History & Context
Gal-Leg spurs, also known as “lady-leg” spurs are notable for their design, in which the shaft of the spur is created to resemble a woman’s leg – thus the name! Often sporting various outfits engraved into the metal, including various designs of garters, stockings, or fishnets and accompanied by a range of different boots, and sometimes using different metals to accentuate each portion of the design, gal-legs bring a bit of flair to the spurs. Sometimes they even had the leg designs on both sides of the shaft – earning them the “double gal-leg” moniker.
Gal-legs were popular with Texas and southwestern cowboys in particular, and every spur maker had their own signature on the design to differentiate their work at a glance – whether that be an element of the woman’s outfit or the method of engraving or metal choice.
These spurs are attributed to Pate Boone, one of the most famous spur craftsmen in cowboy history. “Pecos” Pate Boone was the great-grandson of Daniel Boone, and one of four brothers to take up the blacksmiths trade alongside starring in their family-run Boone Boys Wild West show. He was born in 1887 in Greenvine, TX and grew up as a cowhand and blacksmith, and participated in the last big roundups in the Pecos River Valley – where he picked up his nickname of “Pecos Pate.”
After a family endeavor in New Mexico, the Boone family moved back to Texas with a string of wild ponies they proceeded to train, which grew into the Wild West show that traveled for 25 years to great popularity and acclaim. One pony, Budweiser, became infamous when he threw 102 consecutive riders in the bucking bronco portion of the show. Pecos Pate even wrote a book about their experiences, self-published in 1976 when he was 88, as “The Boone Boys: Frontiersmen and Their Great Wild West Show.”
As a blacksmith, Pate Boone and his brothers crafted some of the finest bits and spurs of the time. Often just marked “Boone” or not marked at all, style is usually the only way to differentiate between the brothers’ work, with each having their own signifiers developed over a lifetime of craft passed down from their father.
