I have a left and a right Bear Polar, and am just hoping to confirm the year. The catalog disk that I have says '61 was a 66" bow, but the left hand bow in the pics below is 64". I found a thread where Jeremy confirmed that there were 64" Polars made that year, so will take his word on that part of it.
Was there a difference in glass colors that year as well? The first picture below shows both bows side by side. The LH bow has white colored glass, but the RH bow is a light green. The green color doesn't show very well in the pictures - it is actually almost a light lime green.
Still, 1961 is the closest thing I could find on the Bear catalog CD.
Both bows side by side
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/BowHospital105.jpg)
Right Hand Bow
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Lasch-RH61Polar-8.jpg)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Lasch-RH61Polar-10.jpg)
Left Hand Bow
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Lasch-LH61Polar-11.jpg)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Lasch-LH61Polar-8.jpg)
Whip, Did you run into someone selling bows only in pairs??
Another good thread. In looking at the 1961 Polar info I would agree with you that would be the year. It mentions that the Polar has "ice blue Bearglass" so I wonder too about yours.
One thing that I have learned is that ol' Fred never wasted anything! If there was extra glass of one color it got used. I would also suspect that if somehow a bow was made at 64" it wasn't going to be thrown out.
Curious to hear what Jeremy has to add.