Old Town Canoe name plates

I am currently working on getting some more accurate estimates of when the Old Town name plates on the bow decks changed styles. The ones shown below are the major known canoe types. The transition from the black bar with white letters to the red bar with black letters appears to have happened between 1954 and 1956. The transition from the red bar with black letters to the gold letters happened between 1978 and 1981. Please reply here with pictures of any original name plate and the serial number from the stem if you have one that is: significantly different from the ones shown below, from the middle of the 1950s, or from the late 1970s. I don't need any of the new style WCHA reproduction shown at http://woodencanoe.org/catalog/images/DECAL8c.jpg or any of the older styles similar to the image at http://woodencanoe.org/catalog/images/50decal.jpg which have two curved lines on the bottom saying "OLD TOWN CANOE Co. OLD TOWN, MAINE, U. S. A." You can also send the images directly to me if you don't want to post the information here. Thanks,

Benson

name plate

hi Benson
here is a black and white one and the serial number. Interested to know what you figure out, I just put the red with black letters on my 1956 yesterday.

It is interesting how green some of these can appear as shown in yours as well as the images attached below from a 1941 boat and a 1962 canoe. Thanks,

Benson

Benson,
My AA grade 50 pounder is serial number 160413 built in August of 1953. Whats left of the decal, not 5%, doesnt show any red in an area that should. I believe the club is offering the wrong decals for this date as you suspect, its a red bar with gold lettering. Looks like mine should be Black bar? Anyone else have a 1953 canoe showing a black bar??????

chris pearson said:

Looks like mine should be Black bar? Anyone else have a 1953 canoe showing a black bar??????

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Yes, the one described at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=6471 with number 158838 was "2nd Varnished" on March 6th, 1953 and the image at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=12338&d=1283992979 appears to show the remains of a black bar. I have one from 1952 that also has a black bar. Can you attach pictures of your original decal and serial number? Thanks,

Benson

Heres a deck shot, whats left of it...I zoomed in on the original photo and its definetly a black bar for serial #160413.

I have a 1964 Guide that had a red bar with gold lettering too.

I have an unused decal bought in 1974, red bar with black letters if that is any help. Also have the 1974 bill of sale.

chris pearson said:

I have a 1964 Guide that had a red bar with gold lettering too.

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If it has two curved lines on the bottom saying "OLD TOWN CANOE Co. OLD TOWN, MAINE, U. S. A." then it is not original. Can you attach a picture?

Jan Bloom said:

I have an unused decal bought in 1974, red bar with black letters if that is any help. Also have the 1974 bill of sale.

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I appreciate the confirmation. The red bar with black letters range currently appears to be from 1956 to 1978 with a three year period of uncertainty on each end. I am continuing to update the original message in this thread as I get better information. Thanks,

Benson