Bear Polar Bear longbow (45 lbs)

[Eugene Slagle]

I have not seen this bow yet but I was asked to give an approximate value on a Bear Polar Bear longbow (45 lbs) that this lady has.

Here is the email info that was sent to me.

 

Question

My husband has a Bear Polar bow that he used for hunting when he was
younger.  He is now 68 and wants to sell it.  It is in mint condition.

Would anyone in your club be able to refer us to a bow collector/appraiser?
We live in the Fredericksburg, VA area.

Thank you.

Gene,

Can you offer any advice to Sharon Forest?  I have a Bear Polar Bear longbow (45 lbs.), but I have no idea of it's market value.

My email back to them was this:

The Condition of the bow would be the main deciding factor, but since it is a classic Bear Polar Bear I would imagine that it would fetch at least $150.00 - $300.00 again depending on condition.

If I had the money I would love to have it.
I will talk to some of my trad shooter friends on line to get a better assessment.

Was my initial assessment in the right ball park?

[NJWoodsman]

I'm no expert on Bear bows, but I did have an early Polar. That bow changed quite a bit over the years, from a semi-recurve to more of a target bow, and the wood went from maple to zebra & others. Unless you can find out what year it is, there's no way to know what it's worth. It's not a real popular bow in any case, I would guess less than $200.

[Jack Shanks]

The Polars don't seem to carry a lot of value from a collecting standpoint. Do a search of completed listings on the auction site for Bear Polar and you should get some type of idea from similiar ones that have sold recently.

Here is a guide that may help with the year.

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=003321

[portugeejn]

Just looked at that "auction site" and they ones I saw went from $113 to $232.  

RonP

[Eugene Slagle]

Thanks guys...

[Jeremy]

Thanks Jack, I'm glad to see that Polar ID Guide is still making the rounds!

If it's truly one of the early longbows, then $75 to $150 depending on condition.  The semi recurves typically go for a little less.  The '59 usually start around $125 and go up to $200 or so depending on weight and condition.  The later recurves seem to start around $125 as well and go up from there depending on the year... I don't really follow those though.

The average price I paid for my two racks of Polars is around $75 and that includes two that I paid top dollar for.