It's a fine seat.

Time passes--mine has been retired, together with the seat sandwich that enables mounting the B66 on a more modern bike.

old brooks saddles
 

i bought some brooks saddles .. one of which has a d59 date on the frame the others have no dates and one has a patent plate ( it also has a stitched edge with a wire support in )

d59

the one on the right has a brass patent plate (rec no 807766.7.8 pat. 452336 depose)connecting to two side of leather

it has a brass brooks badge and what looks to be brooks stamped on saddle leather on seat
.. does anyone know what saddle that is ? .. have several and going to attach new leather to a 1973 frame .. .. still researching the best method .. wet form or vac bag ( i dont think i can replicate the 2000lb pressure form the brooks factory uses lol . oh shame i cant post the pictures ah well

RHM, who contributed to this topic can be found above. He is the in-house expert on refurbishing leather saddles. I'm sure he will be of help.

From your description, it may be the Swallow style
I use vacuum forming over a mould as shown in this thread. Although I have made Swallow styled saddles just by hand forming the the wet leather, this being a recent example. The custom anvil and setting tools are seen in this photo. It has a small brass plate holding the two skirts.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...696d61b9dc.jpg
I make my own rivets and this thread shows the rivets being made, and the tools I use to set them
If the original leather is on the saddle, note the position of the tension screw, carefully remove the leather, and throw it in a bucket of water. After an hour remove it and put the leather on a flat surface, with a heavy weight covering the top. Press it flat and allow to dry. Make up your pattern from that adjusting for the stretch measured from the tension screw which had been required.
If you need any further help, please ask.

thanks guys some good info and inspiration here
 

thanks Big Block and Tugadude i think it must be an early swallow like you say .. looking at the brooks site the only difference is a line of stitching along the edges that loops the leather over a wire on each side from front to back .. some great resources in here looking at what i have (i got 12 assorted saddles in an ebay auction from near my hometown in uk birmingham home of brooks . it looks to be 4 brooks at least and 4 other leather saddles with 2 dunlop rubber saddles that look like i could swop out for a leather saddle too ) .. loving the work you did on your saddle Big Block it looks mint .. with the saddles i have i think i may try one with a vac form one with a leather form .. and in the process of building a book press which i use for stamping leather and thinking there might be a way to incorporate I have been using sendcutsend for projects and may get a layered template made (i model stuff in software called fusion360 ) ..its great to see your saddle ,rhm s saddles and an artist called obsidianmonarch who also restores old brooks .. appreciate

Sounds like a great find!

Brooks made the 'Swallow' saddle in at least three quality levels (price points).

The cheapest was either Lycett or Wrights, with a U-shaped steel thing riveted under the narrow part (I don't know Lycett and Wrights were made in the Brooks factory or if the Lycett and Wrights factories still existed at the time; either way, by 1960 they used the same frame, rivets, and nose hardware as Brooks, and were under the same ownership as Brooks).

The middle grade one, which is the most common one in my experience, was the Brooks B15 Swallow. It has plain cut edges, flaps folded underneath and riveted to a small steel plate.

The expensive one was the B17, which has the cut edges folded under and stitched, holding a stiff wire in the hem. The flaps are also folded underneath and riveted to a small steel plate like the B 15. Sounds like that's what you have. They stopped making this model about 60 years ago, not long after yours was made.

You don't need special tools (vacuum forming, etc) to recover a Swallow; no serious stretching of the leather is required. Wider saddles are more difficult.

One of these days I'll put a video on Youtube showing how I shape the leather using home-made tools (no vacuum forming for me), but I've been pretty busy lately.

Rudi
the red saddle in the photo is cut using your base Swallow template, the leather was soaked in water for about 30min then hand-shaped as the leather dried. No other input from any device apart from my hands was used for the shaping. And the vegetable-tanned leather is thicker than that specified as Brooks Professional leather.