The Old Town canoe with serial number 9552 is a 16 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Charles River model with red Western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, half ribs, mahogany outside finish rails, a keel, and two flab pole sockets. It was built between October, 1908 and February, 1909. The original exterior paint color was white. It shipped on February 9th, 1909 to St. Louis, Missouri.
The Old Town canoe with serial number 95525 is a 16 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Otca model with open oak gunwales, oak decks, oak thwarts, oak seats, half ribs, a keel, and bilge keels. It was built between October, 1927 and March, 1928. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on March 19th, 1928 to Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Scans of these build records can be found below. These scans and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others as you probably know well. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See
https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and
https://www.woodencanoe.org/shop to donate or join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. I try to get pictures of the serial numbers from each end so I can make my own guess. A 1909 canoe would not originally have had diamond headed bolts. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck,
Benson
