I peeled off an old deteriorated leather grip today and for a moment I thought I was holding a bow that was originally Custom made for the late Great Bob Marley.     No such luck. As it turns out the original owner was Bob Morley.  Anyone know this cat?

Looks pretty rough doesnt it?  

Not To Worry Mon.  Everything Gonna Be Alright    

 

Trap

Trap - That old cracked bow looks like it has a serious infestation of the rare bow termites. You best send it to me right away before they get into all the bows in your house...

Morley was well known for having those termites in every bow that he owned... Best get it packaged up right away and get it mailed first thing in the morning...

   


Bob Morley..., it is great to get lucky. Congrads.

oh yeah I actually do know Morley we used to jam at this club on friday nights.We did a little Jamacian music mon.What do you want to know about him ? for a small fee I will type a personal note up for you about Morley.Morley who the hell was Morley anyhow ? I think Wade nailed this one Morley was a dude with a cracked bow.And now its a Double D & B Morley.....yehaw bd

Trap - Got that bow packaged up yet???

Fred and Bob Morley, 1954 Wyoming

Does the date sort of go with your bow???

Reportedly Morley was a great cook, probably contacted those bow termites while out gathering firewood...

 

If it would have said Bob Marley, I would have used red, yellow and green spray paint to camoflage it and crumbled up the leather grip into a baggie and sold it.

Trap

Trap - Tell us about the bow...

Is that Doc's workbench it is laying on?

The leather grip was actually hemp?
C'mon mon what's the deal?
Perhaps Messrs. Phillips and bowdoc have some suggestions on how the bow should be treated?

Whatcha' think Wade?

Bjorn - Trap and Doc are being awful quiet...

I wasn't going to mention whose printing that it looked like on the bow...

It does look like His doesn't it?! Amazing stuff!

I wanted the owner of the bow to know about the thread before I said anymore.  

Wade, the workbench is mine.  The bow does indeed sort of go with that date.  It may have been leaned up against that cabin wall.    

Here's more pics of the bow.  







Trap

Nice work Trap-great background!.........that leather was destined to come off!

Trap - Glad it is for real. Neat bow.

Boy that grip is shot. Bow looks a little worse for wear, but probably not one that a guy would want to shoot anyway.

Fred is holding his own bow. I have one of those arrows of Fred's, orange feathers, red band, red nock... cool arrows...

Do you want someone to find Morley's bow in a photograph? Morely's bow is not leaning against the cabin wall in the photograph posted above.

Finding the poundage of Morley's bow mentioned in the text would be some great supporting evidence to locate.

A larger version of the photograph I posted is in the Bear ads on the back of "Archery" magazine in the 1950s.

Wade if you would be willing to look through your photographs that would be wonderful.
I did locate another pic with Morley in it-a bowhunting camp in 1952.
It was in the book by Charlie Kroll-'Fred Bear a bio of an Outdoorsman" p 154.
Whatcha' think Trap should do to the bow?

Like I said earlier, Trap should pack up the bow and send it to me before those bow termites infest all of this other bows in the house....            

If it is his, he should do what ever he wants.

Personally, I usually just leave historically significant things pretty much the way the are when I find them. That's just me, and lots of folks think I am crazier than they are. They may be right when it comes to this.

Takes a wise person to know where that fine line is between restoring an item and destroying its historical significance.

This is a well known photograph. Morley is holding his bow horizontal, so not a good shot of it. Article does not discuss bowmen or bow weight.

   

Same as first photograph of Fred and Bob, 1954, but this one is on the back cover of "Archery"...

 

Trap - You are not going to believe this one...

I have read this April 1955 article a few times over the years. This is how the fifth paragraph starts up...

"This year Bob bagged his pronghorn buck near a waterhole at seventy-three yards with his sixty-five pound, forty eight inch bow, using a twenty-two inch broadhead arrow..."

Bob is holding the bow horizontal again so you can not really see much...

The bow leaning against the cabin wall in this photograph is a static (see other photograph for owner)

 

This just keeps getting better and better!

Wade, you amaze me.  

You are relentless in your research and have a mind like a steel trap.  Thank you for adding so much great info about the bow.  

As you have probably surmised, the bow belongs to Bjorn.  Where it goes from here will be his decision.  

I was honestly just joking around when I started the thread because of the Morley/Marley name similarity.  Hope I havent ruined the historical significance by removing the grip.  I suppose we wouldnt have known what it was if the bow had been pristine and the grip intact.  

Trap

The bow with the grip intact was a whole different story from what it has become with the grip off! Too cool! Nice find Trap and Wade!

Trap - Glad to help. I'm afraid the old steel trap is getting a little rusty lately...

For years it seemed that almost everyone thought all of this information was worthless. It's nice to be able to put it to some good use.

As I'm certain you both know, Morley was from California and a good pal of Nubbie Pate's.

Yes, with Bjorn on the track, it did smell a bit like yesterday's diapers to me with Bjorn in California.

I know there is at least one more article that I have not found yet this evening. Not sure that it has much other than a photograph or two of Morley with the group of bowmen.

Can't say that it looks promising to find a better photograph of the bow.

At this point, its all great therapy for me.

Removing the grip and discovering Morley's name was pure genius (or lucky) molesting the bow any further would be considered incompetence by some.

I'm personally pleased you guys have unearthed such a treasure. If you are going to build a display for the bow, I'll help you document the bow and Morley in any way I can. I have a neat little item that Fred gave each of the bowmen on that 1954 hunt. If there is a display, I'll donate one to go with the bow and the display.

Lot's of really great stuff behind Fred's Wyoming hunts that is not known by many today. Someday in the near future, I hope it gets published.