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This bike has no serial number, I've looked it over thoroughly. Nothing on the bottom bracket, nothing on the dropouts. I don't expect to find out the exact year but seems there should be a way to narrow it down based on the components. I haven't been able to find many JC's with this particular fork (rounded top as opposed to the flat top). I haven't yet found information on what years skip chains were used but this bike has one.

Fork

Chain guard

Seatpost and saddle

Rear cog

Left side dropout where I understand serial numbers are typically stamped on JC's

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  • The chainring shape seems to be a skip-tooth design, and may pre-date roller chain. Certainly pre-WW2
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 22:49
  • The "skip-tooth" cogs are one of the few markers of age. Though I don't know when skip-tooth cogs were the rage, they were gone by the mid-50s for sure. Appears to be a Bendix-style coaster brake, so that probably puts an upper bound on the age (though I don't know what that might be).
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 22:49
  • Note that if you can make out a brand stamp on the coaster brake arm, that would be helpful.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 22:51
  • JC Higgins is stamped on the coaster brake arm. I received a comment on another site stating it was a Musselman rear hub. I read somewhere that JC Higgins re-branded the Musselman hub at some point.
    – Mel
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 22:58

1 Answer 1

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1949 - 1950 JC Higgins built by Murray. The serial number is stamped into the bottom bracket. Time and rust will make it difficult to read. Keep scrubbing. MOS is the prefix for Murray of Ohio for Sears. L, M, N, O, P will indicate the year.

This bike is missing the tank.

**https://i.sstatic.net/TUbkj.jpg**

Here's a picture of one complete with tank and rear rack. Some models had painted tanks rather than the exhaust ports. Some had painted rims, some had chrome rims

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    Hi, welcome to bicycles! This looks like a great match! If you edit this question you should be able to add your picture here, instead of putting it in a separate answer.
    – DavidW
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 16:35
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    Done - Thank you for the excellent find, and welcome to the site. Keep up the good work!
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 22:12

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