rhm

I don't know much but will add a few observations.

Cantle plate codes are a letter plus a two digit number. The lowest I've seen was A 59. I've seen A, B, and C but no other letters. I Presume the number refers to the year, but I have no confirmation the letter refers to the part of the year.

Leather codes, I don't know anything about them. But I can speculate.

What's the point of a code? This is not a rhetorical question. I would say the main reason for manufacturer codes of this kind is quality control. But the fact remains that a large proportion of cantle plates had no stamped code, even on saddles made in years when codes are known to exist.

Now if the codes on the leather and cantle plate both indicate a date, they only indicate the respective dates of the leather and the cantle plate, not of the saddle as a whole. They could vary by... I don't know how much. Years, for sure.

But I don't really see the point of a date on the leather. As far as quality control is concerned, the important data would be the source of the leather. The quality of a saddle is going to depend to a great degree on the quality of the leather, which will depend on any number of factors beyond Brooks' control. But one thing they can control is from whom they buy leather. I would assume the codes on the leather are there to connect the saddle to information in the records-- (now lost) records of purchases of leather from suppliers. If we had all those records, I presume we could learn some amazing stuff... the size of shipments of leather, the sources. We might even be able to determine that 1974 was a particularly good year for Argentinian leather, or something like that.

I, personally, am willing to live without this data.