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➼ History & Context
The Nocona Boot Company, based in Nocona, Texas, bought JR McChesney’s company the year after he died in 1928. JR McChesney, one of the foremost spur makers of all time, was known for his careful craft in hand engraving and metal inlay, and his catalog contained 120 spur patterns and 64 bridle patterns upon his death. The Nocona Boot Company continued his legacy and hand-made the spurs and bits his company was famous for until 1933. Though he, and his company, rarely marked his spurs while alive, those spurs made under the Nocona Boot Company were marked “MCCHESNEY”
➼ J.R. McChesney
John Robert McChesney was born in 1866 in South Bend, Indiana and moved around a fair amount through Arkansas and Texas while building his blacksmithing craft until he landed in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma in 1910. He began making decorative spurs and bits early on, and even opened his own shop in Broken Arrow in the 1880s. His pieces were the first to be created from a single unbroken piece of metal.
McChesney became known for his single-piece bits & spurs forged from pieces of local farm equipment, axels, and harrow teeth, and the technique quickly became the predominant style in Texas. His single-piece spurs were strong and durable without a joint between the heel band and shank – a potential weak point that could break under pressure.
JR has been attributed the “goose neck” decorative style, which later developed into the gal-leg, that many people also ascribe to McChesney. Once in Oklahoma, he purchased an entire city block and built a factory to produce larger numbers of bits & spurs; at its peak he employed 50 workers. Other famous spur-makers were known to have worked for him at one time or another in their careers – including Clyde Parker, P.M. Kelly, and Tom Johnson.
He never wavered from his objective to create high-end hand-crafted wares, even when his catalog included over 120 spur patterns and 64 bridle patterns. Even when other companies began to quickly mass produce, McChesney countered by slimming down and staying true to quality.
His designs include plants, animals, and geometric patterns, and his gal-leg spurs are some of the most collectible. He specialized in featuring hand-engraving as well as copper & silver inlay. McChesney’s work is known to be top quality and some of the finest of type, and he rarely marked his work because he was known to say that the quality was all the signature he needed.
