The Old Town canoe with serial number 47853 is a 17(?) foot long, AA grade, Charles River model with Western red cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany trim, a keel, and a floor rack. It was built between January and March, 1917. The original exterior paint color was auto gray with a four inch Yale blue stripe with turned down ends. This would be similar to several of the designs shown at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/thumbnal.html where the stripe extends along the rails and down the stems. It shipped on March 15th, 1917 to Taunton, Massachusetts. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the attached thumbnail image below.
This scan was created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. Additional information about 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 join or contribute to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See
http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and
http://www.wcha.org/join.html to join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description don't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with your restoration,
Benson