On the bottom of the crank housing is stamped 110975, Does that mean anything?
The 1800’s was an interesting time in the bicycle world. There were thousands of builders, manufactures and inventors. Sadly, many went out of business before the “bicycle craze,” either through acquisitions, mergers or patent infringements.
Another bicycle business destroyer, were the Mail Order houses. MO were not appreciated in the bicycle industry community…in fact they were venomously hated and viewed as being responsible for ruining the industry with their low price bicycles! Example: a premium two-wheel ride in the mid 1800's could cost between $150 - $300. While a mail order bicycle featuring similar parts (sometimes the same parts) was offered for $30!
Retail shops selling premium bikes and manufacturers making the high end models struggled to compete with the demand for low - priced mail order bikes.
Mail Order houses before the 1900's were the big dogs on the block with the biggest bite! They demanded and got what they wanted from the trade! Additionally, they single handedly changed the paradigm of bicycle manufacturing, buying, and selling merchandise. There were many sore losers and protesters toward the catalog houses for cannibalizing the trade.
Montgomery Ward used the same play book as Sears...they didn’t actually manufacture bicycles! They bought inventory in huge quantities from multiple jobbers, branded them and sold them dirt cheap! Hence, why stamped numbers don’t always align with other found models. The same model may have been assembled by different jobbers.