Gerrish with serial number ?

[1905Gerrish]

O.k. Guys here is one for you. Picked up a gerrish canoe yesterday. While looking at it the stems on it are not splayed out like others that we have seen. It looks like a traditional canoe stem. Everything else on it looks gerrish including the tag. When investigating at home i noticed what appeared to be a number on the stem. After a little paint srtipping this is what i found. 586 the number is stamped on both stems but one end is much easier to read then the other. Has anybody ever seen a gerrish with a number on it. What does the number suggest? Numerial order?, date of production? The canoe itself was in 98% origional condition. Looks like it has never been revarnished and never been re-canvased and certainly another pro has never had their hands on it. I know every gerrish is different but out of all of the gerrish canoes that i know of " this is the fourth in the collection" this is the only that i know that has a number on it. Any help would be apprectiated.

 

[Dan Miller]

A Gerrish was recently donated to the ABM, and it has a serial number branded right on the bow deck. Another member has a similar Gerrish with the number also on the deck.

Gerrish records are not known to survive, but like most other builders, I would guess the numbers were simply assigned sequentially.