Serial Number help

cobalos

New Member
Not sure if anyone can help me with this or not, I'm looking at restoring what is being described as a a 1911 Old Town Heavy water. I am really new to this whole thing, I can't make out what this serial number is? 10730 16... from what I'm guess that could be a 1911, but the first 0 is what I'm not sure about so its 1x730 16, but is that x a 0,5,6 or 8? Its hard to make out and cant find too many good pictures of serial numbers to cross ref the fonts and methods used for stamping the number.

Thanks Roger

Old town 1.jpgOld town 2.jpgOld town 3.jpgOld town 4.jpg
 
That number looks like 15730 to me.
The Old Town canoe with serial number 15730 is shown as 16 feet long, CS (Common Sense or standard) grade, HW (heavy water) model with western red cedar planking, spruce gunwales, ash decks, seats, thwarts, spruce finish rails, and fitted with a keel and floor rack. The canoe was built in 1911. The original exterior paint color was dark red. It was shipped to the Strawbridge and Clothier department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 11, 1911. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.

15730 - O0268A.jpg

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.

I'll check the other possible numbers.

Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

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The OT canoe 10730 is 17' long; the OT boat 18730 is a rowboat.

However, The Old Town canoe with serial number 16730 is shown as 16 feet long, CS (Common Sense or standard) grade, CR (Charles River) model with western red cedar planking, spruce gunwales, ash decks, seats, thwarts, spruce finish rails, and fitted with a keel. The canoe was built in 1911. The original exterior paint color was dark red. It was shipped to Elkhart, Indiana, also on May 11, 1911. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.

16730 - 8241.jpg

How about posting a photo of the serial number stamped into the other stem?

Greg
 
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Yes, it could be.

The Old Town canoe with serial number 13730 is shown as 16 feet long, AA(top) grade, CR (Charels River) model with (double?) mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, seats, and thwarts, and fitted with a keel and a floor rack. The canoe was built in 1910-12. The original exterior paint color was dark red, with the name “Ned” painted on the bows. The record is illegible in part around the shipping information. Something happened on July 5, 1912 (either first shipped, or returned for repairs) and it was the subject of a new order on August 14, 1912. In any event, it seems that it was shipped to Altoona, Pennsylvania. There is no scan of the back of the record that might help clarify this history – and I claim no special expertise in deciphering this kind of partially illegible record – your guess is as good as mine.

13730 - 6203.jpg

So there are three build records that might fit your canoe. A photo of the other stamping of the serial number might help settle the question, and if it doesn’t, some pictures of the canoe would help, as mentioned before.

Greg
 
My guess is that it is the HW with serial number 15703 due to the round bottom. The image at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/hull-x-s.gif shows that the Charles River models usually have a much flatter floor than this canoe. It is not likely to be number 13730 since the double mahogany gunwales as shown at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=5995&d=1221342418 have smooth decks with no rail caps. It would also be helpful to know where this canoe was found. Old canoes often don't travel far so this one is more likely to be 15703 if it was found near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or 16730 if it was near Elkhart, Indiana. A picture of the numbers from the other end would also help as Greg mentioned previously.

Benson
 
Yep, probably 15703. It is closed gunwale, not double gunwale. Also, the trim looks more like ash than mahogany. That digit looks like 5 or 3, so probably 5. In any case, it's clearly an early one.
 
It would also be helpful to know where this canoe was found
This was advertised in Kijiji about 45min from me, likely it was a Muskoka find from one of the older American cottages, unless someone dragged it up here more recently.
 
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