A drifting cowboy: Where’d you get those wooly chaps?

A side job, according to google, is also informally called a side hustle or side gig, it’s an additional job that a person takes in addition to their primary job in order to supplement their income, or in my case to support my addiction to collecting antiques.

As a young man I worked briefly as a shipwright in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. It was there I met Mike, an elderly Italian immigrant, who had worked in large wood shops his entire life. Mike owned an impressive tool chest filled with ‘soon-to-be-antique’ tools he had crafted himself.

I was fascinated with his story and his tools. He sparked my curiosity about antique tools and set off a decade of collecting.

My exposure to a huge variety of antiques and collectibles found at antique shows and swap meets eventually led me to collecting ‘sporting collectibles’ (hunting, fishing, canoeing, etc), and finally, in the 1980s, Old West antiques, cowboy collectibles, and horse trappings.

When the weekend arrived I switched hats from home builder to antique dealer. I had a route that included attending all major antique shows in the LA area as well as several large swap meets like those at Long Beach, Pasadena, and the Rose Bowl. I especially like the Rose Bowl because for an additional fee you could pay a little more and get in early, while dealers were still unloading their treasures.

This tale is about one early Sunday morning — late in my career — at the Rose Bowl, where with flashlight in hand, I walked from row to row asking dealers, “Do you have any Cowboy Antiques?” This particular morning I was lucky and a voice rang out from the back of an old van, “Yup, I gotta old pair of chaps.”

I walked over and waited while the old gent rummaged through his van and eventually produced a pair of wooly chaps.

Generally speaking wooly chaps are usually found in northern climates from places like Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. They are made from Angora goat skins and provide warmth as well as protection from brush for a rider.

This particular pair looked brand new until you discovered a flap of goat skin pulled away from the leather backing on the leg. Other than that they were unremarkable — no makers cartouche or stamped or carved leatherwork on the belt — just plain ol’ wooly chaps. I figured I could do some repair work, and turn a profit if they were priced right.

So, I asks the ol’ fellow what he’d take for ‘em? He said 80 bucks, so I peeled out four twenties faster than you can blink. Good well-marked woolies were selling in the area of $1000, and plain ones like these should bring at least $600 after some repairs were made.

It was a good start to my morning of collecting.

As luck would have it a couple rows later another gent replies to my, “Do you have any Cowboy Antiques.?” “I have some old belt buckles.” Sure enough, he had some dandies. They were all sterling silver one-inch ranger buckle sets, 1 marked FM Sterns, 1 marked Visalia, 1 marked Keystone Brothers, and — wait for it — 1 marked Bohlin. These were all ‘primo,’ and I expected would cost an arm and a leg, so you coulda knocked me over when he says $65 each. Again I peels off the green and gets him paid before he changes his mind.

I left his table and noted he had mostly china and glass, so lucky for me cowboy stuff wasn’t his area of expertise. I figured those four buckle sets would fetch me between $800 and $1000 at the right antique show.

I was pretty happy with my morning’s work so far. I’d spent $340 and had at least $1400 worth of collectibles to sell. “Hey Jerry,” a voice rand out from behind me. When I turned around I recognized another cowboy antique dealer who said, “Where’d you get those wooly chaps? He continued, “They’re really swell, I sure wish I’d found them.”

“Well, says I, tell you what I’ll do, I’ll let you have them for $350, cause they do need some repair.” He paid me off a walked away with a smile on his face.

Now, You gotta know I’m pretty pleased with myself as I plowed through the rest of the swap meet. Then, as I’m about to leave through the rear gate, I ran into another cowboy antique dealer and stopped at his display to see what goodies he had for sale. We had a nice visit. I told him about the silver buckles, and he said I’d be happy to own one like the Mexican buckle you’re wearin’.