The Old Town canoe with serial number 53196 is an 18 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Ideal model with red western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, twenty four inch long mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, half ribs, a keel, outside stems, and a bang plate along the full length of the keel. It was built between January and February, 1919. The original exterior paint color was bright red with a stripe edged in gold. The details of the stripe are not clear. It was shipped on March 7th, 1919 to Easton, Penna. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.
This scan and several hundred thousand others 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/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 this description doesn't match your canoe. Please attach a picture if the original design is still showing. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson