Carleton Canoe 16703 16 (?)

[Fitz]

This one is somewhat of a long shot. The number on both ends is very illegible. I have tried about everything to get it to divulge its secrets. The more legible end may have been stamped more than once complicating the deciphering.

Anyway, my best guess is 16703 16. The most difficult digit to read is the second one.

It should be an older - teens(?) CS grade Carleton.

Thanks in advance.

Fitz.

 

[Benson Gray]

Well, the Carleton with this serial number is 18 feet long with long decks and lots of mahogany that shipped in 1922 which isn't likely to be yours. I found two nearly identical 16 foot Carleton canoes in the 1x703 sequence so the deciding factor may be the type of wood used in the decks, seats, and thwarts.

The Carleton canoe with serial number 15703 is a 16 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Carleton model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, maple decks, maple thwarts, maple seats, and a keel. It was built between September and November, 1920. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It was shipped on April 4th, 1921 to New York City.

The Carleton canoe with serial number 19703 is a 16 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Carleton model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, and a keel. It was built between April and July, 1927. The original exterior paint color was bright red. It was shipped on July 22nd, 1927 to Hopewell Junction, New York.

Scans showing these build records can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail images below. These scans and several hundred thousand others were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others as you probably know well. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if none of these descriptions match the canoe. Does it have diamond headed bolts and do they look original? Is there any evidence of the original paint color? Can you attach some pictures? Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Fitz]

This could be a tough one.

This serial number has been monkeyed with I think. There is evidence on both stems of some chiseling, ghosts of previous digits and new digits. I doubt it is a case of fraud, but more likely a mistake in the numbering at the factory. The planking, inwales etc. all look like a teens/20's canoe. There are no diamond bolts, just plugs. Spruce inwales. Open gunwale - no evidence of a cap. The thwarts are likely/possibly replacements. The bow deck was replaced. Stern deck is painted. I am not confident in my ability to discriminate between birch and maple, but I think the original deck and seats are maple. I may know more when I strip it.

Photos attached.

 

[Benson Gray]

I made a negative of your serial number image and my guess is that you could have the Old Town Canoe with serial number 67031 as shown below. Could the decks, seats, and thwarts be ash? This was a period when Carleton canoes were frequently converted to Old Towns and vice versa. This one could have started life as a Carleton with a serial number near the 16xxx range but I can't see enough of the original digits to be sure. A change like this was usually noted on the build record but there are some examples when the record was not updated. Can you post a picture of the numbers from the other end as well? A Carleton record may have additional information if more of the original number can be identified. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Fitz]

Serial No.

Hi Benson:

Thanks for your help. Here is a photo of the serial number on the other stem.

On the first photo that you enhanced, I can make out an initial "1" and then later "3" and "2", but I don't have any idea how many digits are missing between the "1" and the "3".

The older original number is a different font/size/stamp that I think is consistant with the "16" and typical of the font on Carletons.

Thanks,

Fitz.

 

[Benson Gray]

The other number doesn't offer much more information so this may remain a mystery. Old Town and Carleton canoes had been built in the same factory for over a decade when this canoe shipped so they probably weren't using a special font for either one at that point. The serial numbers attached below all come from canoes with the remains of original Old Town name plates on the decks so it appears that different serial number fonts were being used well before the Carleton purchase in 1910. The font became more consistent in the 1930s as shown in some of the later examples. Good luck with the restoration,

Benson