Bill -
Great find !!! You have a real treasure.
As you requested in your email, I read your initial post and reviewed the text regarding Rich's version of my comments about the earliest Stickman signature that I am familiar with. Rich's version varied a bit from the actual facts.
Actually, Fred's earliest Stickman Signature known to me that is on a piece of equipment is on a very rare 1930s Bear Leather Quiver, the large Deerslayer model, which has the removable cuff intact. The quiver is signed by more than 50 old bowmen. Many of these are very prominent bowmen of the time. Some of the signatures are dated 1941 or 1944. Fred's Stickman signature has both dates on it, 41-44 so presumably Fred signed it in 1944.
Fred signed his Stickman signature on a photograph of his "Snow Buck", that was taken on Friday the 13th in November 1942. The actual date the photograph was signed is unknown to me, but presumably sometime shortly after November 1942.
During this era, many bowmen signed their names and drew something related to archery with their name. Among other things, I collect signatures of old bowmen and have one or more signatures from nearly every well known old bowman from the 1920s to the 1950s. The most interesting of these have some type of drawing with the signature. A couple of my favorite signatures with drawings are those by Pat Chambers and Forrest Nagler.
Back in their day, these guys were all having a lot of fun making these character illustrations. Now of course, we have just as much fun collecting these unique signatures.
By the way, Fred did not invent the idea of an archery signature, as both Art Young and Saxton Pope had unique archery signatures well before Fred ever picked up his first bow.
Topic: The find of a lifetime (Read 1098 times)
