Congratulations and welcome, the Old Town canoe with serial number 125997 is a 16 foot long, AA (or top) grade, HW model with open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, a keel, a floor rack, and a painter ring. It was built between December, 1938 and March, 1939. The original exterior paint color was bright green. It shipped on March 17th, 1939 to New York City. A scan showing this build record can be found below.
This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See
http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and
https://www.woodencanoe.org/pricing-plans/join to donate or join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer this description doesn't match the canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson