A Beautiful Kodiak De Luxe

[Shane Reed]

I received this bow today and thought I would share. It's a nice Kodiak De Luxe "Crystal lite"
44#'s 60" AMO. Serial is 1A119. I have heard the downfalls of this bow, but would like to know anything that your willing to share about this model exp..Woods, production numbers. I like Bear history. The bow is in collector shape, and I am grateful because I couldn't see very much when I bought it. Only a couple light stress lines that you really have to look to see. Original rest and strike plate from what I can tell. Ohhh, and someone wrote there name on the upper strike plate. This is what I believe it says "J.R. Brogna" maybe someone here knows the person.

 

 

 

 

 

[Shane Reed]

 

 

 

 

[johnnyrazorhead]

Beautiful bow Shane,one of Bear's prettiest in my opinion.Don't know the name.

[Shane Reed]

Thank you John. It's one of the most beautiful bows i have ever seen. I took my chances as when i pulled the trigger there were not many detailed pics. I knew if I didn't move fast that somebody else would. So long story short i cli ked no questions asked. When bow arrived today I knew I made the right decision.

[Shane Reed]

For you lefties there is one up for bid now

[damascusdave]

Take a close look at the pics of the leftie...looks like that one has already got a delaminated spot on a limb...do not think the seller is trying to be dishonest...just does not know what he is looking at

DDave

[Shane Reed]

Alaska,
  I realy had to look back at the pictures from the listing to see what you were talking about. Now my camera even blew this up a little. It's actually a very small ding that measures 3/16 of an inch and is not deep at all. I could take it out with a couple strokes of fine grit sand paper but am going to just leave it alone. The pic on **** made it look blown up like 300% look at the size of the finger to compare in listing. it's not a major blem at all! Very sweet bow. You should have snagged it, but I am glad you didn't. ;o)

 

[warpedarrow]

That is a nice looking bow.  Is that the one from California?
I thought about it for a bit but decided that I NEED a dogleg in my rack much worse than I need another Deluxe.  Seems to me that I bought a coinless Deluxe from the same guy that was selling this one.  len something or other wasn't it?

I have three of the crystal glass bows and don't shoot them.  When I consider all of the Deluxes that came unglued 53 years ago along with how much money I have invested in them, I just can't see taking the chance.

[Shane Reed]

This one came from a seller in FL. Len300 has the lefty that is up for sale now.

[alaskabowhunter]

My 3 Deluxe are all original. The finish on my 56 incher looks about the same as yours, the 60 incher and 64 incher are mint... especially the 60" 50#. Bought it from Rob Tiberio and got my 56" Deluxe from his twin brother Rich...
 

[alaskabowhunter]

please note the black lettering on the 56" model... beautiful bows, I'm sure your gonna like yours.

[alaskabowhunter]

This is the 1960 Kodiak Special Deluxe that I shoot. 62", 45# refinished by bowdoc ... love it.
 

[Shane Reed]

I see the black lettering on the 56" and mine has that as well. Wonder why the different colors. I really would like a 56" to shoot some day. Have a 56" 59 Kodiak, but would be very nice to have a de luxe.

[alaskabowhunter]

two options on the black vs gold lettering. Either they ran out of the gold they were using and switched to black until it was back in stock. Or they decided to go black because it was cheaper and maybe easier to find and then switched back to gold. I'm sure they soon discovered the black didn't show up well on darker colored woods like the rosewoods used in the 1960 Kodiaks. I have a very early 1959 Kodiak with a dark rosewood site window, no coin, 1958 serial number, it was written in black and then again written in gold right over the black. Of course not everyone looks over their bows with a 20x magnifier like I do.... that's how you discover a bow's secrets....

[warpedarrow]

Lookimg at the pictures reminded me of a question that came up the other day when I was ordering decals from Al.  Were the sixtys' decal originally white or were they this light yellow that we see today?  Same question for the fifty nines.

[jackdaw]

Shane...found one of these a year ago in ROUGH shape.....Mike Shaw did a bang-up job of bringing it back to life....rare stuff....John

[Shane Reed]

That's real awesome John! Mine is in great shape, and not needing repair. Good to know for future bows.

[ArrowPlane]

Beautiful bow!

Do you think the medallion is original? They switched to aluminum for the 60's, unless they were still using up the copper ones early in the year. I ask because I just got a 1960 KS (not deluxe) that also has a copper medallion. Looks like it might have been a replacement though since there was a lot of finish over the top and on that area of the riser.

[Shane Reed]

The copper coin was correct for the Kodiak De Luxe. I have seen a couple 1960 Kodiaks where the left over coin was used.

[damascusdave]

I have two sixty Kodiaks with copper coins and two with aluminum...I think both were available and some bowyers used one and some used the other...manufacturing things back in 1960 was different than it is today...Wade Philips once posted a picture in this section of about 10 1960 Kodiaks showing some very major differences in limb configuration, tips and grip size...I am betting you will not see anywhere near that much in the current "1959 replica" Kodiak

DDave