Luis Ortega Collection, ca. 1955
Watch
GUEST:
These belonged to my grandfather. And it is some reins, rawhide reins, and hobble made by Luis B. Ortega, and also a book that he signed to my grandfather, and some handwritten instructions, because my grandfather needed some assistance with knowing how to tie something. And they became friends when my grandparents lived up in Cottonwood, California, by Redding.
APPRAISER:
The king of rawhide braiding was Luis Ortega. And if you were a reining horseman, especially in California, you had to have Ortega gear. Now, Ortega learned from a Chumash Indian man, who was born in 1805 and died in 1915. So when Ortega was a little boy, he was sitting around watching this guy make this stuff. It's not easy to make.
GUEST:
It doesn't look like it.
APPRAISER:
It's not. You start with a cowhide that's a dried-out, stiff cowhide and you start cutting strings in a big circle all the way around, smaller and smaller until you get to the center. And you make these strings that are less than a quarter of an inch wide. And these are about a 16th of an inch wide.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
So you cut those strings out of rawhide, and then you're ready to start braiding. And it's a very tedious, time-consuming effort and takes a lot of skill. And the thing that's great about the reins is that he signed them. And it's hard to sign something like this, there's no place to sign it. But here, he signed it on the inside of the popper. What you have here are what are called closed reins with a romal. The reins are closed here and the romal goes back and across your hip when you ride, and you ride with one hand. These are hobbles. Put them on the horse's front feet so they don't run away. Ortega had three levels of gear, basically. His basic level was all straight rawhide, was one color just like this. His second level is what this is. It's two colors. Kind of a salmon red color and rawhide. He dyed this rawhide. His number three level had three colors, and often the reins had silver ferrules between them, and they were his top-of-the-line show things. So these are kind of in between. He wrote two books, and they often come as a set. And the interesting thing also you have is this is a drawing and a letter he did of how to tie a hackamore. And the hackamore is the first stage of training a California horse. So you got a really neat collection here. Can you tell me when the reins and the hobbles were made, and the letter?
GUEST:
I was told that they were made about 1955.
APPRAISER:
He was honored as a master artisan by the National Endowment for the Arts in the '80s. These pieces, if they were for sale at an auction, you're probably $4,000 to $6,000 for the reins.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Probably around $2,000 to $3,000 for the--
GUEST:
The hobbles?
APPRAISER:
The hobbles. The book's worth about $200.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER:
And the letter's probably worth $200.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
This stuff is highly collected. For this grouping $7,000 to $10,000.
GUEST:
Wow. Well, it's very sentimental to me, so it's not going anywhere.
APPRAISER:
I bet.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
