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Hi All,
Recently a complete 1929/1930 archer radiator cap assembly sold on eBay (good chrome, sold for approximately $588). I noticed the tip of the arrow was down around 10 degrees from the horizontal position. Does this indicate a reproduction or did something happen to the original? This is not the first time I have seen a drooping archer!
Yes, if I held my arm extended for 20 minutes, yet alone 80 years, it would droop too!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1928-1929-Pierce-Arrow-Archer-Mascot-and-Radiator-Cap-/331121417438?
He had it original listed as a ’33. Below is his answer to me when I mentioned it. This is the first I have ever heard about the foot down vs sideways issue. Maybe the foot down one has the arrow up?
“Hello and thanks so much for pointing out my error. I quickly looked in my mascot book and mistakenly listed it as a 1933 piece. Looking again I see you are quite correct. The piece I have in the auction has the foot turned sideways. There was also a version with the foot pointing down.
Thanks again. I will add this information to the listing.””
“
I was under the impression that the correct ’29 archer wore a helmet and was stretched out leaning forward whereas the ’30 archer was bare headed and is sitting much more upright.
Also, I thought the ’28 and ’29 archers are the same.
Is this correct?
The archer that was on my car when purchased by my grandfather in the early 60’s is the ’30 style bare headed archer. The car was produced in very late ’29 and it also has the ’30 style tail light assembly.
Years back my Dad acquired an original ’28-’29 style helmeted archer on a reproduction cap but I’ve always used the later style mascot.
Craig – My understanding is that the 28 archer had a helmet, but had a different base from the 29. Most 1930 cars had the same archer as the 29, but some of the late 1930 cars got the non-helmet, upright archer like the 1931 and 1932 cars. If I am wrong, somebody set me straight!
Bill – I have no knowledge of a “foot position difference” in helmet version archer caps. You have to be careful that if you buy a helmet archer that the toes of the foot have not been cut off. This happened because the archer, when removed from the base, will not mount flat to a surface with the foot intact.
There were / are two versions of the Helmeted Archer. I believe that the one with the foot dangling was from the 29 and required a raised radiator cap as shown in the EBAY example. I believe that the radiator cap shown on EBAY was correct, even though the seller thought it was a replacement. If it was a replacement, it was a correct replacement.
Regarding the missing foot, I have one where my Plating Guy had his Repair Guy replace the missing half-foot and toes. It can be done and it is not too expensive. The repair is invisible.
All tolled, my archer, purchased, repaired and re-plated cost about what the Archer sold for on EBAY and my arrow is not heading South!
The William C. Williams book, “Motoring Mascots of the World” (page 62) indicates that there were two types, angled foot and dropped foot.