Featured Camel Saddle?

I found this piece today and it was identified as a camel saddle from the 1870s, “very, very rare!!!”

I’ve searched the internet and can’t find any camel saddles this resembles.

Does anyone have any clues as to what it might be?

It’s about 25” tall and about 30” wide. There was an old customs sticker on it that looked like it came from China.

Thanks for your help!

 

Hi Michael. A pet peeve of mine is the word, "rare" when used by sellers attempting to drive up prices. I have a lot of "rare" things that aren't worth S#@%.

Hopefully, someone will know exactly what that is. Until then, welcome to the forum, and thanks for reading my tiny rant.

 

It is the rack of a camel pack saddle. It would have padding on the inside and things could be tied to the rack.
Not rare, still used, although I would say this is an older one. Nice construction and nice condition. Not sure about antique though, maybe vintage.

 

with 25 " tall it could be anything. mules, donkeys, even horses for military use.

 

The front and the back of the frame have no cross bars or slats to allow for two humps. The two cross slats in the middle sit in between the humps.
Such a construction would work for mules, donkeys, or horses that have two humps, but I don't think there are that many around.
As you can see from the example you showed, for horse etc pack saddles it makes sense to have cross bars at the end of the frame to give it stability. With a camel the two humps add to the stability. (Of course there would have been padding to protect the humps as well.)

 

I know, I was a little suspicious of their insistence of it being very very rare!! I thought it more humorous than informative.

Thanks!

 

A Chinese pack saddle for a horse:


http://www.thelongridersguild.com/oriental-wonder.htm

 

That is without allowing for the humps.

 

I can't find more recent examples of camel pack saddles, but below is a Northern Qi Dynasty figure of a Bactrian camel with a pack saddle.
Although different from the later ones, you can see that the concept is the same. The front and end stick out along the sides of the humps, without support slats over the top, which a horse pack saddle would have.
Other Chinese funerary figurines of pack camels have similar pack saddles.


https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/...n/grey-pottery-figure-bactrian-camel-10/53638

 

Kind of like the North African camel (dromedary) saddle stools you used to see in the 1960s.

 

Thanks for all the replies!

Just wanted to post a few more pics.

 

Nice. Looks like they used wood from something from Europe or the US for at least one of the cross slats. There used to be a lot of Western trade posts in China. And travelers of course.

 

do the Chinese have the same numbers as us ?

 

Check my post just above yours. Post #13.