Hello! Glad to join the WCHA
Some facts are just not sitting right with a canoe I just acquired - and I am wondering if the serial number configuration and other characteristics might be recognized by other members - thus helping me know if I have the genuine article or not.
It is 14' X 30" X 13?" red with Chestnut decal, open gunwales, deck is shallow semicircular cut out, cant ribs are wider than the regular ribs. Serial number on the stem is 011123 It has been repaired, but original screws and hardware do signal the canoe is from Canada.
Here is what is puzzling me…
1. Chestnut decal has left leaf and bottom leaves "cut off" - not perfectly cut but neatly done. The decal, like this, is centred on the deck - and there would be little space for a full decal. I can see no evidence of the decal being damaged and cannot feel or determine any varnishing or finishing that would indicate a difference or repair. This seems odd.
2. The details of this little canoe are closest to the "Little" model "after fire", but the width and depth have me confused. The specs for the "Little" before the Chestnut factory fire in 1921 were 14' X 30" X 11" with cant ribs the same size as the regular ribs and heart shaped deck . The specs for the Little after the fire were 14' X 32" X 11 1/4" with wide cant ribs and semi-circular deck. I've measured mine in both the ways Chestnut made its measurements - but it is still narrower than their specs and deeper than their specs for after fire (and even for before fire).
3. It has a serial number. Chestnut typically did not number its canoes - when it did, the numbers were 5 digits (mine has 6) or started with a "C" - mine clearly starts with "0".
4. The "Little" was not produced after 1960. I have some film footage, supposedly of this very canoe, taken in 1969 and the canoe looks pretty new for being at least 9 years old (or older). The film footage is old and grainy and I can make out that there is a Chestnut looking decal on the canoe in the film, but nothing close enough or clear enough to determine if the decal was whole back then and has since been damaged - of if the decal has been as it is all along.
I know Chestnut merged with Peterborough and Canadian after the fire, and that the companies often built a canoe in one factory and put the decal of another factory on the canoe for location and sales purposes.
Any help with the serial number and whether or not this is in fact a Chestnut or actually made in another factory would be much appreciated.
blackbear
Some facts are just not sitting right with a canoe I just acquired - and I am wondering if the serial number configuration and other characteristics might be recognized by other members - thus helping me know if I have the genuine article or not.
It is 14' X 30" X 13?" red with Chestnut decal, open gunwales, deck is shallow semicircular cut out, cant ribs are wider than the regular ribs. Serial number on the stem is 011123 It has been repaired, but original screws and hardware do signal the canoe is from Canada.
Here is what is puzzling me…
1. Chestnut decal has left leaf and bottom leaves "cut off" - not perfectly cut but neatly done. The decal, like this, is centred on the deck - and there would be little space for a full decal. I can see no evidence of the decal being damaged and cannot feel or determine any varnishing or finishing that would indicate a difference or repair. This seems odd.
2. The details of this little canoe are closest to the "Little" model "after fire", but the width and depth have me confused. The specs for the "Little" before the Chestnut factory fire in 1921 were 14' X 30" X 11" with cant ribs the same size as the regular ribs and heart shaped deck . The specs for the Little after the fire were 14' X 32" X 11 1/4" with wide cant ribs and semi-circular deck. I've measured mine in both the ways Chestnut made its measurements - but it is still narrower than their specs and deeper than their specs for after fire (and even for before fire).
3. It has a serial number. Chestnut typically did not number its canoes - when it did, the numbers were 5 digits (mine has 6) or started with a "C" - mine clearly starts with "0".
4. The "Little" was not produced after 1960. I have some film footage, supposedly of this very canoe, taken in 1969 and the canoe looks pretty new for being at least 9 years old (or older). The film footage is old and grainy and I can make out that there is a Chestnut looking decal on the canoe in the film, but nothing close enough or clear enough to determine if the decal was whole back then and has since been damaged - of if the decal has been as it is all along.
I know Chestnut merged with Peterborough and Canadian after the fire, and that the companies often built a canoe in one factory and put the decal of another factory on the canoe for location and sales purposes.
Any help with the serial number and whether or not this is in fact a Chestnut or actually made in another factory would be much appreciated.
blackbear
