Restoring an Antique Camel Saddle

Just in time for the holy month of Ramadan - a holiday celebrated by Muslims throughout the world as an occasion for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community - we bring you this incredible antique camel saddle that we had the great privilege to restore. Shout out to all of our worldly and discerning clients who have trotted the globe in pursuit of these incomparable treasures!

A fully restored antique leather camel saddle.

Antique and vintage restoration is a whole different ball game from repair work. We like to think of leather repair as a science, utilizing all of the new techno-gizmos in our workshop to return a piece to its original condition. However, leather restoration is an art form, requiring care and creativity as we seek to stabilize and enhance the beauty of items whose age and history is something to be celebrated, rather than wiped away.

In this instance, our craftsman removed the cushion from the saddle and began the time-consuming work of removing soils from the top layers of the original leather. This is all done by hand, with an eye to remove what doesn’t belong, while still keeping what does - namely the patina that speaks to the history of the piece. Once clean, the leather top coat was conditioned to restore the suppleness of the leather. Care was taken to preserve the original embossing applied to the leather, as seen in the picture above. The wood and brass elements were cleaned and polished just enough to restore the luster of the saddle and to remove some of the grit from its hardier, working days.

If we happened to keep a camel around the workshop, I know a few on our team who would have enjoyed taking this beauty for a test drive, but instead we returned the saddle to its owner to be put on display in his home!