Help ID'ing Back Quiver

[Buckethead1]

Hey guys. I was just given an old back quiver by a buddy and I was a little curious as to who made it. The stamp on the bottom isn't very clear. All I can make out is it is a Black Hawk model made by ......TTA Brothers. It has an etched hawk between the model name and maker's name. Its a large, leather model. The body is a tan leather and the trim at the top is darker brown. It has a large, dark in color, leather zippered compartment with a built in knife sheath. There are two metal clasps on ether side of the sheath and a small metal ring at the bottom of the zippered compartment. It has "X" style back straps, two of which attach by way of metal clasps onto a metal ring. It is also separated into three arrow compartments by way of adjustable leather straps w/buckles near the top. I found some balled up newspaper in the bottom of the quiver that dated 1967. All in all its in great shape and I plan to use the heck out of it. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about it. I tried looking at the manufacturer's name with a magnifying glass but cant make out anything but the last few letters of the name. (TTA)

[Rusty Izatt]

I would say it was made by Cravotta (spelling?) Brothers. They also made Black Hawk bows.

[Buckethead1]

Thanks, Rusty! I'm willing to bet the farm that's what it is. Now I have a point of reference to start doing somne research on the age of it.

[OzarkRamblr]

Definately a Cravotta Brothers. I have the exact quiver, in fact I use it every time I go stumpin'.

 If it needs it, hit with a little saddle soap to clean it up and treat it with some mink oil paste. It should clean up nicely

[Buckethead1]

Thanks, Ozark. I've got it all reconditioned and its looking good. It wasn't used much by the looks of it. If it wasn't for the minor leather cracking and discoloration on the bottom and the discoloration to the metal clasps, you'd think it was new. Any idea on the age? I haven't had much time to research it. I can't complain about the price (free)I'm sure it will serve me well for my stumping forays.

[OzarkRamblr]

I'm just guessing here so take it for what it's worth, which is to say...not much probably.

I'd say late 60's to early 70's. I say that because what little info I've found (not much) on the Cravotta Bros. seems to peter out around the early 70's. Apparently they made several different archery products all of it with the Black Hawk name attached to it. But, like I said I haven't been able to find much.

[Buckethead1]

I didn't have much luck finding info either. I'd say you're right on for late 60's. My buddy's dad had stuffed some newspaper in the bottom of the quiver, I suspect to protect broadheads, dated 1967. Not really concerned about the value. I was just curious about its history.

[OzarkRamblr]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I love finding old archery gear that I can put back into rotation. It's kind of neat to think about what kind of history some thing has.

[Buckethead1]

This is the second item my buddy gave me. He gave me two boxes of finished arrows. Too light of spine for most of my bows but I do have an old #30 fiberglass longbow I leave at my camp for the nephew and niece to shoot. Most of these arrows spined out around #35-40. I need to replace the nocks and fletching on a few of them. But otherwise they are sound. 6 of the arrows came with 3 blade 100 gr Del-MA broadheads. I got those on my pheasant arrows now.

[OzarkRamblr]

Very cool. If nothing else definately reglue the nock, the old glue gets really brittle after several years. It could fail at the wrong time. I've actually had strings split completely thru the old nock because the plastic had degraded also.

Many of the older wood arrows, like PO Cedar for example were better quality, straighter grained & tighter grained than what you can find today. I always buy old PO Cedar arrows when I can find them. Love the smell...

The stuff that is sold now is nowhere near the quality that the old cedar was. I use sitka spruce from Hildebrand for making new arrows now, it doesn't smell as good as PO cedar but it's better quality.

[Charlie Lamb]

Just a suggestion... there is a good chance that the quiver wasn't made by the Cravatta Bros. but instead was made for them by a popular quiver/leather goods mfg of the period named "King".

Good stuff for sure.

[OzarkRamblr]

Thanks Charlie. I think I've seen one
of those quivers some where, or I've seen one with the "King" stamp on the bottom. Can't remember exactly, but didn't they also sell their own brand of quiver with the King name on it? Seems like the quivers I've seen looked very similiar to the Cravotta quiver.

[Charlie Lamb]

Shane... King quivers were very common during the sixties (don't know when they started making them)and into the seventies. As a matter of fact, you could say that in the day if a guy was wearing a decent quiver it was most likely make by King.

I'm sure there is a spittin image to the Cravatta with the King name on it.

I'm also sure that many King quivers wore the trade mark of Hoyt Archery in it's hey day... not sure about Bear archery but it's likely.

[OzarkRamblr]

Thank you sir.