Ted Shea Oars Help

[Brian P pasternak]

Was cleaning out a garage and came across these oars. They are in pretty good shape and the maker is Ted Shea. Was trying to do some research on them but can not really find anything about them on the internet. Was wondering if anyone knew anything about them.

Thanks
Brian

 

[Benson Gray]

I don't know of anyone who has researched Ted Shea in much detail. He appears to have operated in a number of locations under several different names. See https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/12204023_230-smith-and-parker-two-piece-kayak-paddle for a Smith & Parker, Inc. paddle of his from Foxboro. The labels at https://woodencanoemuseum.org/decals?tid[]=73 include one from Springfield. The nice leeboards at http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/3408/ are his too. Please post here if you find more details. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Brian P pasternak]

Benson,

I appreciate the information thank you. Would you happen to know when Ted Shea was making oars? Any idea how old these oars are?

 

[Benson Gray]

I would guess that they are after the 1920s but can't really narrow that down. Some quick searches in a few genealogical web sites didn't offer much either. The https://www.findagrave.com/ site doesn't show any grave for him in Massachusetts. The 1920 Directory of the Sporting Goods Trade at https://ia801701.us.archive.org/30/items/sportinggoodstra00unse_0/sportinggoodstra00unse_0.pdf lists the "Shea Oar Co., Springfield, Mass." on page 218.

My guess is that the upper left part of the logo says "Montague Oar & Paddle Co." The page at https://scripophily.net/mocirodco.html indicates that was purchased by the Montague Rod & Reel Co. in 1928. They were still in business during 1940 as shown in Hardware Age at https://books.google.com/books?id=UI4TAQAAMAAJ on page 405.

Benson