Philip,
I don't believe in using superficial things like decals, writing of serial numbers, coins, rests, overlays, etc for identifying the year of a bow. Even the color of the glass is not a positive yer ID 100 percent of the time. The only true way to identify the year of a bow is by the form it was built on. That is the real DNA that can not be changed.
For quivers, the stamping would not be the true positive ID of the year, but in most cases it would give you a year range. Some leather could have been stamped, then used years later after the stamp was not longer in use.
In many cases, it is likely that the logo had to be stamped into the leather well before the product was completely finished. Our example at hand would be the front of the pockets of the Big Bear Quiver.
It is likely that the leather used on the front of the pocket was stamped before the pocket was sewn up. Lots of leather for the front pockets could have been stamped, then most could have been sewn up right away, then much later the remaining stock could have been sewn up on a slightly different model or perhaps even reworked and the leather used for something entirely different. So it is entirely possible that an earlier logo can appear on a later quiver.
Fred was an exceptional businessman, as were the men who were his partners. Very seldom did they permit the wasting of anything. However, that trait, certainly doesn't apply to the Signature Bows. And like nearly every rule about Bear Archery Tackle, there is almost always at least one exception to any rule.
The logo would be an indication of the year, but not the definitive rule. Each item must be carefully examined for its unique traits to be be able to logically determine its year of manufacture.
We as Bear collectors are always looking for simple answers to identify the year of manufacture and fail to realize that in the era these items were produced, they were made to sell to make money for Bear Archery, and not for the purpose to help collectors to be able to easily categorize 50 years after they were made.
Topic: help dating a vintage-bear back quiver (Read 793 times)
