What did I buy? Beaver paddles with brass oar locks???

[paulmlemay]

I wonder if anyone can shed any light on this pair of paddles I bought.
I am confused.

I wanted to buy wooden canoe paddles.
They are marked Beaver Paddles, Clarksville Tenn. They measure 54 inches long.

However, the confusing part is they came in brass oar locks?

Are they rowboat paddles? Are the oar locks just misplaced?

 

[pklonowski]

It looks like the oarlocks are only wrapped around the paddle shafts, rather than mounted into the wood; is that right? If so, they'd just slide up & down the shafts? The oarlocks maybe got put there because somebody didn't know where else to put them, like for long-term storage?

 

[paulmlemay]

That's right, they are loosely on the paddle shaft. Not fixed or attached. Also, there is no wear on the shafts to indicate they were ever used in the oar locks.