fired up, that is super cool, and perhaps it was built as a fundraiser for a homeless shelter out of repurposed wood, the shape of the paddle lends itself to that of slats out of the back of a chair or bench, and the price of 2$ kinda means that they didnt spend any money on buying materials to build the call. Even in the 1950 -60 era, that really wouldnt have been that much moeney in the scope of things. I was even thinking perhaps it came from a prison workshop, where the inmates had to earn their keep, but the nail probably cancells that out, they would have used that for other things, mostly bad I assume. What kind of industry was in Mabern county back then, that may also be a key place to start? Thats what really cool about these older calls, you can get really deep into all kinds of other history, just tracking this call . Another distant thought would be the CCC camps of the 1930's, and the chestnut wood mostly died in the 1920's I believe, and the ccc camps cut alot of the stae forrest lands of "dead on the stump" chestnut at this time. West Virginia had alot of these camps, and they were self suportting to a certain degree. The 2$ price then though , would have seemed alittle to steep for that time, but perhaps the price was added at another time in this calls life. anyhow, you have a true treasure there, and I really enjoyed seeing it, let us know if you uncover any details !!
