[laEspadaAncha]

Originally Posted by Gonzalo G

On the other side, based on what I just saw, I don´t have much confidence about the knowledge from non-Latin American aficionados about Latin American items (even about Spanish items, if not comming from Spanish connoisseurs).

To suggest an individual's ethnic identity is somehow a necessary or sufficient condition to becoming an expert in subjects pertaining to their ethnicity is simply ludicrous. Just because one's personal connection to a subject provides a different perspective, and in some cases may - and I stress may - lend added value to understanding a subject (e.g., the ethnographic studies of some pueblo cultures) does not logically equate to it being a valid nor "most" valid perspective.

I guess in your opinion, the scientific method you cite in the same paragraph is only valid when the tester is of the same ethnographic origin as the data which he or she tests?

You could choose to show the respect and courtesy of writing one of the foremost experts in the field to personally inquire into the depth of his knowledge and experience with spurs of Meso American or South American origin, and then base your opinion on data. Or you could choose to simply dismiss the certitude of someone who has probably forgotten more about spurs than you and I will ever know based on nothing other than your - and his - ethnic identity. Either way, it is your prerogative.

In all fairness to Kurt House, in addition to having written books - that's books, as in plural - on the subject, he has been collecting spurs for 40 years and for nearly ten years has been the Director of the National Bit, Spur, and Saddle Collectors Association (notice it is not the "National Bit, American Spur, and Saddle Collectors Association." To assume his expertise is limited to items only originating north of the Rio Grande is awfully presumptive).

FWIW, when I asked him why he was so certain, he told me that in addition to the data he has collected over nearly a half century of research, he has encountered this same pattern of spur acquired from indigenous flea markets in Chile, and went on to say, and I quote, "the only way that spur can be thought to be Mexican is if it passed through Mexico on its way from Chile."