Old Town Salesman Sample Canoe with Two Paddles

Old Town Canoe Company (1903-present)
Old Town, ME
c. 1915
51 in. long

The Old Town Canoe Company of Old Town, Maine, is a historic maker of canvas-covered wooden canoes. Incorporated in 1901, Old Town is the largest and most well-known American canoe maker and they are still in business today. The individual build records for Old Town's canoes that were built between 1922 and 1926 still exist and disclose that approximately thirty-five forty-eight-inch-long samples were made during that period. Sample canoes built before 1920, such as this lot, are even scarcer. It is believed that Old Town rewarded its wholesale distributors with a free forty-eight-inch sample if they ordered a railway boxcar load of canoes, about forty full-size canoes. Distributors received two forty-eight-inch-long samples or one eight-foot sample if they ordered two boxcar loads. Thus, the samples were really used as "premiums" to recognize favored distributors, not routinely handed out to salesmen, though they are often called such. Old Town Canoe Co. was by far the greatest maker and distributor of "display" samples, which were also often referred to as "sign" canoes.

Display samples were not sold to individual buyers. Most were distributed prior to the 1930s and were placed in window displays or hung prominently in outfitter stores. Given the relatively low production numbers and disappearance through attrition, they are scarce and highly sought-after collectibles today.

With wood construction throughout, Old Town Canoe Co. banners along the sides, ribbed interior with one cane-bottomed seat and two braces, a keel with copper sheathing fore and aft, and two wooden paddles to scale, this exemplary canoe represents one of the finest examples to come to market. The construction, form, and decals indicate this early example was made sometime between 1912 and 1920. Additionally, its orange hue is far rarer than the more common green models. Only a few orange salesman samples are noted in records from 1922 to 1926, and this is the only pre-1920 orange example to have surfaced. At the time of its sale in 2013, this canoe set the world record auction price for any Old Town salesman sample.
Literature: Stephen B. O'Brien Jr. Fine Arts, "American, Sporting & Western Paintings, Antique Decoys & American Folk Art," 2004 Catalog, Boston, MA, 2004, lot 35, related canoe illustrated.

Please refer to the description; if you have additional questions, email colin@copleyart.com.