When/what were the early year decals? Before the Shield/Ne Plus Ultra logos of the late 50's thru early 60's? I've seen oval El Dorado with conquistador & Sun as well as Mamba Snakes. The Conquistador alone without Sun seems to be early 1960's followed by the DH within a drawn bow from late 60's thru the 1980's. Do I have those years correct?

I have a Monterey from '67 with just the Conquistador on a horse.

Red, how did you confirm the date of mfg? During the 1960's the 1st digit serial number system did not become standard until late according to what Larry Hatfield has previously said, so ID based on the number alone is not accurate for that time period. This is the reason for my decal-oriented query, to help narrow the field for those periods. Could there have also been considerable decal usage overlap? A lone mounted conquistador is what I meant for the early to mid sixties decal.

in the fifties and until 1962 the first number of the written serial number was the bowyer. that comes with an exception though! for a time, the bowyer # was stamped under the weight stamp at the top of the sight window.

I just thought in the later 60s the first digit was the year. Here's the logo.

Here's the riser.

Red, as I understand from what Larry has previously stated, the seven with a slash thru it following the EM would be an in-house notation system whose meaning is now lost to time. EM means Eldorado Monterey. The riser of yours is identical to mine; mine is EM slash-seven followed by 1128 with a draw of 50#. I'm certain mine dates from the early 60's as I have 22 older Howatts in my collection (6 Ultras including a Deluxe 54) for comparison.

My 1961 model has the same 7 with the slash. Pretty sure that is the bowyer #.

Here's another logo from an early Hunter.

I was basing my dating on the Monterey on the 7 after the first 7. I believe the Hunter is earlier though. Maybe Larry would know.

I was basing my dating on the Monterey on the 7 after the first 7. I believe the Hunter is earlier though. Maybe Larry would know.

Red, I knew your serial number was 765; it doesn't change what I've gleaned from a search of Larry's previous posts per early Howatt dating. But this is one reason for my original query, what were the effective dates the various early logo decals were used & was there considerable overlap between logos? Within my collection of 22 Howatts, the DH within a bow logo began it's use in mid-60's & continued thru the 80's. The Shield Ultra logo as with your Hunter was mid-late 50's thru early 60's (I have 6 Ultras). In between these was the lone mounted conquistador logo (a revival of sorts of the older oval Eldorado conquistador with Sun rays which was discontinued in 1956). One of these days I'll learn how to take & post pics of my collection. And unless Lsrry corrects me, I'll stand by my assertion that the slash-seven is not a bowyer ID, but an in-house designation of the bookkeeper's personal accounting system now lost to time & of no importance today.

i think you are seeing an F rather than a slash seven. pearl chilcutt was writing on those old bows and had a system of dating i really do not know anything about. i do know she used letters of the alphabet in recording the bows. think it's the seventh month of the year.

Whatever else, Pearl's script was lovely. Always a challenge to re-mark a Howatt and forge Pearl's handwriting (grin). Bet if we had enough bows to compare, we could match up bows to Pearl's days off.

Rick

Pic off of ebay.

Nice looking old bow.

Sadly not a lefty.

I see the progression from the conguistador with the sun to the conquistador on horse without sun to the Ne Plus Ultra to the drawn bow logo. Any others out there?

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