that sounds like a really good idea..there are lots of old, valuable saddle floating around out there, some still used, and some just treasured...
i might be totally mistaken, but i always thought that saddles by major saddlemakers were marked somewhere on the saddle...
my grampa had a 'jumbo' saddle...had an elephant with 'JUMBO" under it..have no idea of who made it or where it came from..was a real comfortable riding saddle..bought back in the late 1940's/early 1950's in douglas, wyoming...
i am familiar with meanea saddles and eddie russell saddles..
i believe meanea was made in wyoming???anyhoo, there are some fine examples of his work at the state capitol museum in cheyenne, wyoming...
eddie russell was a saddler from douglas, wyoming...i had one of his saddles on a rocking horse of mine when i was a kid..a old high back 'sheepherders' saddle...

Most of the old reputation shops did mark their saddles, and some jealously guarded their maker's mark stamp. That was to prevent an employee from stamping off something, selling it on the side and representing it as a shop product. That was back in the day when the production shops had the reputation, not necessarily the individual makers working there. Legend or lore has it that Bohlin's fired an employee and later in the day found a maker's stamp missing. They had the guy's house searched, police questioned at length, and finally found the stamp a couple days later where it had rolled off or fell into a bin in the shop. Those old shops built their reputation and business with catalog sales, name recognition, and identifiable products. They protected that.
Jumbo saddles were made by Schoellkopf in Dallas, TX. They were founded in 1869 and made saddles into the 70s. They sold a whole line of products from saddles to leather stitchers, saddle trees, saddlemaking tools, and more. One of their old catalogs has been released on CD. It is fun to look through and see some of the tools I use that they carried, and the prices back then. One of my favorites to look at.
Frank Meanea was in Cheyenne. He has a few credits to his name. He is credited with coming up with metal saddle horns that were bolted on after the wooden horns broke off. They had a hollow base that fit over the stump of the broken horn. Several also give him the credit for coming up with the Cheyenne roll. Reportedly it was not designed for hanging onto. It was designed to keep the rope from coming up the back of the cantle and catching the rider if the cow got behind the horse and came up the other side.
I kind of like this old history. For anyone ever in northern Wyoming, the Don King Museum in Sheridan is a must see. I would bet there are more good saddles in better condition than any other collection in the country. It is even more amazing to realize it was put together by one man.

bruce...well, i certainly know more than i did when i started reading your post...great to find out about my grampa's JUMBO saddle...he must have bought it on one of his texas trips..it was very comfortable to ride, and really nice looking...
i thought meanea was from wyo, but wasnt sure..he sure made beautiful saddles from looking at the examples at the wyo state museum..
i have never been to king saddlery...always wanted to go...just bought 'king ropes' baseball caps from there...
have you heard of eddie russell in douglas, wyoming..
take care..great to hear/learn from you...