Brooks Professional Special Leather Saddle: Vintage 1970's - Large Copper Rivet - Dark Brown

The joy of vintage leather saddles is every one has aged differently, creating something of a "living" bicycle part with individual personalities and characteristics.  Some weren't ridden much or never conditioned, and tend to retain their exact original shape but become even harder than they originally were.  Some are ridden hard and well cared for, leading to supple baseball glove like leather and deep sit bone indentions.  And then there's my favorite, the saddles that were ridden just enough to be broken in with slight sit bone indentions and were conditioned when needed and thus have some little wrinkles and unevenness.  These are my personal favorite.  This is one of the latter!

The small metal badge with diagonal lines just inside the rivets dates this saddle to between 1973 and 1979.

Condition

Excellent lightly used shape with gorgeous patina.  Leather is supple with no dryness and minimal surface cracking.  Saddle is lightly broken in with slight sitbone indents.  NO tears/cuts.  Large copper rivets are free from corrosion and near perfect.  When viewed from the rear, the right side looks a tad higher than the left.  When this was on a bike, I couldn't notice this once riding it.  The right rear corner has scuffing, left corner has just the slightest dye wear.  There's some surface wrinkles in the sit bone area.