Old Bear Griz and Broadheads??

[Mark B]

A buddy stopped by last night with an old Bear Grizzly and some broadheads. He was wondering if they were rare? The bow is a 1953, I believe, as I didn't look real close. What I thought was unusual was it was both a right hand and left hand bow. The quiver was also different. Leather top, and a slot for the fourth arrow (broadhead)on the backside of the hood. Two types of broadheads, a Hilbre 4 blade and a 2 blade Ancer. I told him I would post here to see if anyone had any info. Thanks in advance.

[Blackhawk]

I thought I would say it before someone else does.

 

[Wade Phillips]

Mark - The 4 different styles of Hilbre 4-blade are shown on page H-22 in "Broadheads 1871-1971 Identification and Rarity Guide, Second Edition" with the most common rarity.

There is no old traditional broadhead named "Ancer", but there is a 2-balde "Lancer" which was made by Crestwood. You may have omitted the letter "L". There are 4 different Lancers shown on page C-39 in "Broadheads 1871-1971 Identification and Rarity Guide, Second Edition", and again with the most common rarity.

The models of the heads mentioned above are probably worth only a couple of dollars each. They are common with the exception of any Hilbre 4-blade with a white ferrule.

Your quiver sounds like a Bear Leather Cap, but several models were made and range from production models that are very common to an experimental that is extremely rare. Would need to see a photograph or much better description to say for sure about the quiver.

The bow is a bit of a puzzle without a photograph or description of the glass color and riser wood type and limb design.

A picture is still worth a thousand words...

[Bjorn]

Grizzlies were available in R/L for four years
54, 55, 56 and 57. '53 is the patent year and not useful for dating post 1953 bows. As others have said we need a pic.

[Wade Phillips]

Bjorn - Do you have all of the R/L 54, 55, 56, 57 Grizzlies?

[Bjorn]

Wade: '54 and '56 only.............I'll have to get busy!!

[Mark B]

First, let me say thanks to those with helpful input. My buddy only wanted to know if the archery gear was rare, as he plans to hunt with it. He received all items as a gift from his father-in-law. He didn't want to take the bow into the woods if it was better off being preserved/protected from the elements. I was wrong stating it was a Grizzly. It's a 1953 Kodiak 60in, 51lb. There are three patent numbers followed by DK012. The quiver has Bear Archery Company Grayling, MI and a patent number. I just spoke with him and he will try to e-mail some photo's which I'll forward. Thanks again for the historical info. Mark

[red44]

How about a double shelf Grizzly with the numbers GT505 with an R above it? Is there a year in those numbers? It's supposedly a 62" bow. Thanks.

[Wade Phillips]

redd44 - Lets forget those numbers for now...

And try out this initial draft of the...

Double Shelf Grizzly Date Identification Guide ...

1954 – Red Glass
1955 – Black Glass, 4" Tip Underlays, Decals
1956 – Black Glass, 4" Tip Underlays, Silk Screens
1957 – Black Glass, < 2" Tip Overlays, Silk Screens

Can you accurately match up your bow to one of the above descriptions???

"Underlays" are strips materials added to the belly side of the bow.

"Overlays" are strips of materials added to the back side of the bow.

Cosmetic features such as Decals, Silk Screen, Serial Numbers, Overlays, Underlays, or Coins, are aspects as of bow that can be easily added, changed, or removed.

Cosmetic features are generally not used to date bows, except when permanent features are nearly identical, e.g., form bow was built on, glass color, riser shape.  

I'm not a Grizzly collector, but Bjorn and I have been talking about this for the past couple of days, so thought you would be the ideal initial trail case...

Let us know what you come up with.

As I have said many times, there are almost always exemptions to any guideline established to date Bear Bows.  

The best guidelines are those with the fewest exceptions.

[red44]

Sent you a PM. Thanks.

[red44]

here it is

[red44]

I'll see if I can get him to get a shot of the limb tips and an overall shot and email them to me.

[Wade Phillips]

red44 - Your bow has silk screens... at this point you should have the date narrowed down to two years...

[red44]

Thats pretty darn good! When he gets me the other pics or info on the overlays, I'll post them up.

[SELFBOW19953]

What does the "R" stand for?  I've got a '57 Grizzly with the "R".

[red44]

I have'nt given up. He posted pics of the tips but I can't do anything with them to get them here. I've PM'd him to try emailing them to me. Mabey I can get them posted here. The limb tips look to be black on the back all the way out, the belly looks like it only has a change in color outward of the string grooves. Tough to tell if there are any additional lambs at the limb ends, they look no thicker. I'll get the pics here if/when I can. Thanks for the help.

[Bjorn]

This is the belly side and tip area of a 1957 Grizzly.

As you can see see that there are no layers of wood as in the 56 and 55.
The wood layers on the 55-56 are flush with the rest of the limb (no thicker).

[Mark B]

[Mark B]

Finally got the pictures of my friends Kodiak bow. Any additional information would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Bjorn]

A 1956 Kodiak-looks nice. They are a good shooting bow.