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Main Boards => Trad History/Collecting => Topic started by: michigan bill on May 19, 2010, 02:46:00 PM

Title: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: michigan bill on May 19, 2010, 02:46:00 PM
"Photobucket"
"Photobucket"

Any bow doc or collector who can tell the year this Bear was built?  The handle is shedua and the "bumpers" are Brazilian rosewood.
Thank you.
Bill
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: michigan bill on May 19, 2010, 02:49:00 PM
Well that was one great job of posting the photos!
I used to be able to do this....
The serial number on the bow is 11AM120.
Bill
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: D.Sheppard on May 19, 2010, 02:55:00 PM
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: michigan bill on May 19, 2010, 02:55:00 PM
Perhaps I followed instructions [!] this time.
Bill
 (http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd352/dixiethor/PB100705.jpg)
 (http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd352/dixiethor/P1010709.jpg)
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: D.Sheppard on May 19, 2010, 02:55:00 PM
I'm guessing a "62"
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: michigan bill on May 19, 2010, 02:58:00 PM
Thanks, Donald.
I think it is post 1964 though.  At least that is what I think.
Bill
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: michigan bill on May 19, 2010, 03:09:00 PM
No, wait.  You could very well be right, Donald.  I own a 1964 Kodiak and that is what has thrown me off.  In the 1964 Bear Catalog the Kodiak Special African Bengal Wood and Brazilian Rosewood.
So it very well could be a 1962.
Thanks again.
Bill
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: NancyVTAS on May 19, 2010, 05:40:00 PM
My 62  KS doesn't look at all like that, I'm guessing 65 or66
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: NancyVTAS on May 19, 2010, 05:45:00 PM
I just looked at the Bear cd and I believe it to be a 65
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: Whip on May 19, 2010, 08:27:00 PM
I still have a lot to learn about aging the old Bears, but didn't serial numbers start with the last digit of the year in 1965-69?  If that holds true on the KS as well, then I think 63 or 64.  But 63 had bubinga riser with rosewood caps, and 64 as Michigan Bill said was African Bengal wood and rosewood.  Are you sure on the shedua?  Or is that the same as African Bengal wood?
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: minnesota_hunter on May 19, 2010, 09:06:00 PM
it looks like a 63 to me,  but i am no expert.
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: 450 marlin on May 19, 2010, 09:27:00 PM
The one in the 64 catalog has less outward curve at the front of the grip..thinking 63 also
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: michigan bill on May 20, 2010, 06:58:00 AM
I am not at all sure the handle wood is shedua.  That is what the man who sold me the bow "thought" it was.  I have to admit, it looks more like shedua than bubinga to me.
Per one of the Kodiak threads a while back, the serial numbers are only reliable for the years 1965 through 1969.  That thread was about Kodiaks but I can't imagine it not also applying to Kodiak Specials.
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: macclare on May 20, 2010, 07:05:00 AM
I'm thinking 63
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: NancyVTAS on May 20, 2010, 09:06:00 AM
My Bad-- I double checked and think '63 is correct, I didn't do enough homework the first time on the CD.
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: michigan bill on May 20, 2010, 09:29:00 AM
Thanks, folks.
I'm goin' with 1963.
Man, is that one sweet shooting bow!  Probably the smoothest I have ever shot. It's marked 42# but is actually 44#.
The fellow knew he had bought it in the mid '60s but that's it.  He never shot it!
Thanks again.
Bill Norman
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: Wade Phillips on May 20, 2010, 09:19:00 PM
Bill - This Kodiak Special Identification Guide was created on Trad Gang to help with questions like yours so anyone who was interested could easily identify the year of any Special in question....

  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=002059#000000
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: michigan bill on May 21, 2010, 09:33:00 AM
Thank you very much, Wade.  
That guide is really worthwhile.
My "new" bow is definitely a 1963.
Bill
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: wasapt on May 23, 2010, 08:15:00 AM
OK, Since we are students, what did you learn to help us identify this as a '63. I have a 63  so it was my thought as well but I am not one to know other than just looking at them side by side to mine.
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: jcar315 on May 23, 2010, 08:28:00 AM
1963 KS from Bear catalog

 (http:// [url=http://images.imagelinky.com/1274617633.jpg] [img]http://images.imagelinky.com/1274617633.jpg)[/url] [/IMG]
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: jcar315 on May 23, 2010, 08:32:00 AM
For reference here is the 1964 KS page from catalog

 (http:// [url=http://images.imagelinky.com/1274617888.jpg] [img]http://images.imagelinky.com/1274617888.jpg)[/url] [/IMG]
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: michigan bill on May 23, 2010, 04:51:00 PM
Just what I needed - facts to confuse me.  I do know that you could buy the '64 without the built-in sight window.
Unless I am imagining it, the grip on the '63 is a little higher than the '64.  Mine looks more like the '64.  Also, the bubinga wood on the '63 doesn't seem to have as much grain as the African bengal wood on the '64, which looks more like mine.
Now I'm thinking I have a '64, which is a good thought as I KNOW my "plain old" Kodiak is a '64.
1964 was a good year as I was a senior in high school and would have loved to have had both of these bows, but I could not afford either of them.
Today, I still can't afford them but I own them both.
Better late than never.
Bill
Title: Re: Mid 1960s Kodiak Special Birthdate?
Post by: michigan bill on May 23, 2010, 05:18:00 PM
Bryce, to answer your question, "...what did you learn...?":
I have learned it can be danged hard to tell a '63 from a '64 Kodiak Special.
Bill