3 Ben Pearson Sovereign bow dates?

[charlie jacob]

Can anyone help me date these bows?
top, Crusader #1044, 56"
mid, Lord Mercury #1078, 66"
bot, Lord Sovereign #1056, 66"

[wadde]

Cannot narrow down the excat year but somewhere in the 1969 1970 era.

[Lucas K]

That's a great collection

[arrowwood]

Looking at a 1965 catalog and screen grabs...

the Crusader is listed in the 1964 catalog with that style riser, no later years, and 1963 it looked entirely different with the contrasting hardwood riser. So, pretty sure the top one is 1964.

The '65 catalog lists the Lord Sovereign No. 1056 66"  $125

The Lord Mercury is probably later - it's No. 1060 in the '65 catalog

[arrowwood]

The Lord Mercury appears to be stamped with an S...

When Pearson was sold in 1967 to Leisure Group, they started stamping the  seconds with a star instead of an S. So I'll guess the Mercury is 1966-67

Troutbear beats me out of the catalog auctions almost everytime... maybe he has them all now and I can find a few more some day   :p

[SELFBOW19953]

My '68 Sovereign catalog shows the numbers for a Lord Mercury as 1099 (70"), 1098 (66"), 1097 (64").  The Lord Sovereign is 1095 (70"), 1094 (66"), 1093 (64").  Visually, both bows look like your Lord Mercury except for the laminations-the Mercury has double laminations, the Soverign has single laminations.

According to my '69 Robin Hood, the Sovereign was #7178/70 (66"/70") and the Mercury was #7176/77 (66"/70").  My '67 Robin Hood shows the numbers the same as in 1968.

The Crusader isn't mentioned anywhere except in my '71 Archer's Digest, but there is no model number.