Abercrombie & Fitch old town info

Steven Gagnon

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Canoe has been in the family since purchase, I believe. I was looking for info about date of manufacturing and if there is someone you recommend for recanvassing and some repair.
 

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Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 115907 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with western red cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, oak decks, oak thwarts, oak seats, and a keel. It was built between May, 1935 and January, 1936. The original exterior paint color was bright red. It shipped on May, 2nd, 1936 to Groton, Massachusetts. The back side of this record shows that it was damaged and came back for repairs on August 5th, 1937. It was repaired and repainted bright red with C A Peabody in gold on the right and left sides of the bow. Scans showing both sides of this build record can be found by following the links at the attached thumbnail images below.

115907.jpg 115907-b.jpg

These scans and several hundred thousand more 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 donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Please attach some pictures if the original lettering is still showing. Canoes with a family history are always extra special. The list at http://www.wcha.org/builders-and-suppliers-directory probably has a restorer in your area who can recanvass and repair it for you. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson
 
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Steve, I see you are from NH as well. Kevin Martin is located in Epping. I have trusted him with some repairs over the years. Not sure exactly where you are?
 
Benson, thank you for the information. My initial research shows a Rev. Peabody who founded the Groton school in, Groton mass. This all lines up with the original bill, except for the C.A in the gold bow letters. This is not part of my family so we must be a second owner. However the Peabody family is very well know in new england. I am digging deeper to see who or what CA stands for.
 
Kevin Martin's web site is at http://kevinmartin.wcha.org/ with his contact information. There are many men named Peabody in New England who might have been at the Groton School during 1936 and 1937. One possibility is Endicott "Chub" Peabody as described at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endicott_Peabody who graduated from there in 1938. He was the grandson of Rev. Endicott Peabody. It is also unusual that you have a Abercrombie & Fitch tag from New York City on it. Is the same serial number on the other inside stem at the opposite end? Please reply here if you find more information. Thanks,

Benson
 
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1st. Thank you again! Numbers match front to back. 115907? How rare is it ? I have pictures to send Kevin in Epping. Thanks again. Looking forward to using this canoe this summer!!!
 

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Abercrombie was once a major sporting goods store. They sold quite a few canoes that found their way to various "upstate" NY locations and throughout New England. NYC "sports" would buy their gear in the city and take it to their camps. Perhaps Benson has researched how many Old Town canoes were sold by A&F?
From my experience canoes with the A&F logo are not super common but they are also not what I would call rare. I've owned and sold three that had the A&F tag on them and I have seen others.
I did not feel that the A&F tag added any particular value to the ones that I owned.
 
How rare is it ?

The estimates at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/models.html indicate that the 16 foot long HW model was the second most popular wooden Old Town canoe with about 15042 produced between 1905 and 1955 which works out to about 295 per year. I haven't researched how many Old Towns shipped to Abercrombie & Fitch since this would require manually inspecting well over a hundred thousand records. They were a very early dealer as shown at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/12416/ from 1906 so the total is probably significant. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question.

Benson
 
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