Everything you want to know about collecting Antique Fishing Tackle

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An early start was called for because as the saying goes “the early bird catches the worm”. No worms available for me as those who arrived last night and set up also had the first pick of the better items.

As usual it was nearly a 100% take up of the available tables and it was great to see so many nice items of tackle being offered as well as catching up with old friends.

I wonder what the guy was doing looking up to the sky, perhaps asking for divine help on the purchase of a reel.

I was amazed at some of the tackle on display, everything from floats and baits to huge sea reels including an Edward vom Hofe Commander Ross. There was a good number of the general public who had walked in off the street to have tackle evaluated and in many cases sold.

All in all another great fair and the next one scheduled for 16th November 2008 and hopefully I will see many of you there.

The next Redditch Tackle Fair will take place at the Abbey Stadium on Sunday April 20th. For further details enlarge the poster. I will be there and hopefully meet old and new friends. It is important that we all support John Andrews in his efforts, as many of you will be aware the internet has put paid to many events but Redditch keeps going strong.

This article was written by Colin Innes - First Published in Issue 8 May 1995.

“Why collect tackle from Aberdeen?” is a question I am sometimes asked. Well - I was brought up in the area, fishing mostly on the rivers Don and Deveron, so when I started collecting it seemed to be the most obvious place to concentrate on.

I had a brief flirtation with Hardy tackle but luckily managed to trade most of that on a couple of years ago. I still get tempted by some of those wonderful Perth style wooden reels, Sun and Planets and, oh yes, a Malloch trout in a biscuit barrel case and a Pirn would be nice too! But in the main I stick to Aberdeen tackle and the old tackle catalogues.

So why collect tackle from a particular area? An advantage is that your collection can comprise the whole spectrum of piscatorianna, rods, reels (including fly and spinning), flies, lures, gaffs, nets, ephemera etc. You could amass a selection of the major British manufacturers.

It is no secret that some “makers” merely stamped or engraved their names on to reels made by others (for example reels made by Dingley, Malloch, J W Young and Reuben Heaton’s can all be seen with the name William Garden stamped on them). Having said that, most major towns have had a few indigenous makers over the last couple of centuries.

There is no date restriction to the collection. A further consideration is that you will soon develop a knowledge of the relative rarity of an item and hence, will be in a better position when buying.
Graham Turner’s book “Fishing Tackle – A Collectors Guide” contains the results of some research into tackle makers from Scottish towns, London and some of the more famous names in tackle making. There are however gaps such as tackle makers from English and Welsh towns plus Scottish villages and smaller towns.

I have found the research into Aberdeen makers relatively easy by going to the reference library and looking up street indexes published for Aberdeen each year since about 1824. Anything before this date seems difficult to obtain information on.

Another confusion is that clock makers also made brass reels as well as clocks. A reel owned by Roger Still is by a chap (one assumes) called G. Gill and the only reference found so far is of a clock maker by this name operating in the 1770’s – this reel would seem to support this date.

Also it is difficult to find out much about tackle made in the outlying villages of the Aberdeen area, such as William Blacklaws of Kincardine O’Neil (reputed to have made salmon rods for Kelson), finding only items of tackle or the odd advert in old books and regional magazines.

Robert Catto & John Davidson crank wind reel.

Street directories are a good source of information, but they are not definitive. For example I have a 4 5/8 inch brass crank wind reel with a narrow drum, curved crank wind handle, pinned to the spindle with “H” shaped foot bridge and a convex plate that is inscribed “Robt Catto Junr. Abdn” and “John Davidson.” The engraving is by the same hand and would seem to have been done at the same time. This style of reel would have been made about 1840 – 1880, but can I find out anything about it?

Well I have some ideas. Robert Catto was a city councillor, describing his trade as merchant in 1842, but was John Davidson related to Alex Davidson (see list of makers) or was he a solicitor as suggested in a directory of Aberdeen businesses? So who made it and what was the connection between the two worthies? Any help would be appreciated.

The picture is of the Catto reel as previously described. This seems to be the dominant style of earlier reels marked with a North East of Scotland tackle shop name. Examples can be found with names from both Aberdeen and Inverness. For the purpose of this article I will call this size the NE of Scotland pattern. Brass plate wind reels were first patented in Scotland and from the 1880’s to the 1920’s mostly made by Malloch in Scotland and are called “Birmingham” reels.

One problem I have with reels made, say pre 1800, is whether the name on a reel is that maker, retailer or that of the reel’s owner. The style of engraving in each case is usually the same. It is obvious with recognised makers such as William Brown but what about a recently acquired reel that is inscribed “CB Williams, 122 North Broadford, Aberdeen” I can’t find a record of a maker with this name, so I will have to find out if North Broadford was in an area of private houses or in a more commercial area. Back to the reference library!

The list printed later on in the article summarises the tackle makers of Aberdeen since 1821. This is a shorted version of one I originally produced for the Heritage Tackle Collectors Club (ed. now defunct) that contained address details, name changes and transfer of ownerships. I have also noted the type of tackle I have found by these makers to illustrate the variety of tackle available.

David Henderson reel.

An item of note is a reel by David Henderson (1846 – 1870) that must be one of the rarer items of Scottish tackle (you can keep all your Ustonson and Coxon reels – this is it for me!). It is a 3½ brass serpentine handled crank wind, convex plated check less reel with hot lacquer finish and is named on the upper part of the foot.

David Henderson reel.

Robert Wilson (1864 – 1881) is also of interest. I have two brass crank winds by him that are of the typical NE of Scotland style and a most unusual 4 1/8 inch plate wind in the same convex style with a silent check system and five pillars; this must be one of the earlier plate wind reels.

For the remainder of the article I will concentrate on the three companies that seem to have produced most of the interesting old Aberdeen “made” tackle that appears on the market. I have excluded JS Sharpe for the time being as much has already been written about him. There may be scope for an article about his reels in the future.

Early envelope with typical engraving of the era.

Charles Playfair started trade as a gunsmith, the first advert I have found mentioning fishing tackle was in 1842 and reads:
Charles Playfair can with confidence recommend his present stock of fishing tackle, consisting of London made rods; as also of his own manufacture reels, lines, flies, silk worm gut, Dublin & Addlington hooks”

On 12th August 1955 the following appeared in the local press:

“Charles Playfair & Co gunmakers and fishing tackle manufacturers thank their customers for their patronage over the last 134 years and intimates that with effect from 5th August 1955 they have sold their business at 18 Union Terrace, Aberdeen to William Garden Limited 216 Union Street”

Early envelope advertising the “D” Minnow.

The name of Playfair appears mostly on rods and the rods in question are called “Grants Vibration”. These were designed by a Mr. Grant of Inverness and manufactured by Playfair in Aberdeen. The special features of these fine greenheart rods is a swelled spliced joint designed with a turned up end that reduces the amount of vibration usually associated with this type of rod. The rods are individually numbered on the splice joint and this can be used to help date them.

The following comes from some of Playfair’s original record books. They have information such as who the rod was made for (it’s great to find out the rod you have just bought for £20 was made for an Earl!) what action it has, how long, how many tops any special features, actual weight (with or without fittings) and when the rod was made. The books also record any repairs that were carried out on the rods by Playfair. Some of the earlier Vibrations were made to order with nickel silver fittings, which look great when polished up. As to fishing with them I find that they have quite a slow forgiving action and when balanced with a brass reel can be fished with in comfort for almost an hour!

The first record I can find for a Vibration rod is in 1896 and date details are a bit vague till about 1925. Two of the more interesting rods in the record books are as follows:

Rod no. 4614 is a 13 foot 6 inch three piece Salmon Rod, weight 15½ oz. 2 drams made 15/1/46 for HM the King.

Rod no. 4615 is a 12 foot three piece Salmon Rod, weight 10½ oz. 2 drams made 15/1/6 for HM the Queen.

The advert for the Grant Vibration rod retailed by Playfair.

Box lid showing the By Appointment to Prince Albert.

It is interesting to note that Playfair usually refers to Scotland as NB, North Britain. The manufacture of these rods eventually passed to William Garden and then to J. Somers. Playfair also manufactured lures such as Phantoms (marked with “C” and “P” on the fins) and the Dee minnow, a fairly early metal devon as illustrated in the article.

A boxed Playfair “D” Minnow.

The majority of reels I find from Aberdeen seem to be marked with William Garden’s name. The following is from the 1890’s:

“William Garden, Gun Fishing Rod, Reel and Tackle maker 122 1/2 Union Street Aberdeen. This business has now been before the public since the year 1869, at which date it became established by the present proprietor. The premises consist of a handsome granite building, having a frontage of twenty-four feet, the interior covers an area of thirty by twenty feet and is fitted out in a superior style, the workshop occupying a position at the rear of the premises. This business as conducted by Mr. William Garden enjoys a first class, influential and wide spread connection, goods being forwarded to all parts of the United Kingdom and exported to India* and North America. Lovers of the sport may be very materially consulting their pleasure and interests by devoting a careful attention to the stock at all times by Mr. William Garden. Fishing rods, made of well seasoned and carefully selected wood and salmon and trout flies in great variety, or dressed to any pattern. Fishing tackle is a subject to which Mr. Garden has devoted very careful consideration. His celebrated “loch flies” are prepared from a special pattern. Mr. Garden employs a staff numbering twelve workmen. He takes the active persona superintendence of this important undertaking and his long practical experience renders Mr. Garden in a very valuable and exceptional friend” .

* I have never seen a Garden Mahseer reel, so please let me know if you’ve got one! “

Full page advert for William Garden.

Garden retailed a vast amount of tackle for Malloch in the period 1880 — 1920. I have found eight different sized brass plate wind reels, as illustrated in the Malloch catalogue, in sizes from 2½ to 4½ inches. All stamped W. Garden Aberdeen. Malloch catalogued this style in fifteen sizes from 2 to 6 inches (ref 1912 catalogue)

William Garden also seemed to be a bit of a star in the fly tying department. George Kelson, author of “The Salmon Fly”, attributed the dressing of the following Dee style flies to him:

Balmoral, Bumber, Glentana, Cluny, Gardener (!), Lady Grace, Goran (variation), Lizzie, Empress, Sherbrook, Clark, Double White, Winged Ackroyd Variant.

Kelson also states “William Garden is reputed to tie the Dee strip wing salmon fly better than anyone else in the whole of Great Britain” He carried on to say that an Ackroyd tied by Garden had survived 9 years of fishing and remained “in the best of condition”.

The following quote from Cecil Braithwaite’s book “Fishing Vignettes” illustrates the early mail order side of Gardens business; Braithwaite was fishing on the Sundial River in Norway in 1897.

“The catching of this salmon encouraged us to use smaller flies, but the difficulty was to get them. We wired to Garden, Aberdeen but although I put Union Street, ‘the red tape telegraph people’ returned it to us because I had not put the number. If I had left out Union Street it would have been delivered. The result was, I had to wire again; after this delay it was nearly ten days before we got the smaller flies”.

William Brown is, I believe, the longest operating fishing tackle shop in Scotland and if I had a favourite maker it has to be him. The quality of the tackle bearing his name always seems second to none. The finish on the reels always seems richer and deeper and the quality of his phantom minnows speaks for itself.

William Brown ebonite & brass platewind reel.

Brown was also something of an inventor of lures and flies. His most famous invention must have been the Phantom Minnow, which produced a series of imitators. However the genuine Brown’s Phantom has a quality in manufacture and paint job that is seldom equalled by other manufacturers. A “B” and a “W” on the metal fins can identify them. Francis Francis seemed to be a fan, referring to the Phantoms in his books.
From “Lake & River”. 1874

“I looked up my old acquaintance Mr. Brown the inventor of the Phantom Minnow which is the very best artificial bait yet invented”.

Box for the famous Phantom Minnow.

Locke’s “Tweed and Don”, published in 1860 had the earliest reference to the WB Phantom that I can find; the passage may be long but is worth repeating here.

“The trout here (on the river Don) are large and plentiful, and the water is good for partail and minnows, or Browns phantom minnows, of Aberdeen, can be used with great success in some of the rapid places. And you will seldom fail to hook large trout if the water is heavy or discoloured. Since this implement came into use, I have seldom failed with it, except when fishing the Tweed, the waters of which run much smoother and over a less rugged bottom, in most places here the fish harbour, but neither in Tweed nor Don do you need to throw it twice in the same place. If they do not seize it at its first visit, do not repeat it. Not so the partail, however; they will follow it and take it at the side, when you are recovering it to pitch it forward again. There can be no doubt it is the smell that attracts them in this case, and also the real nature of the bait. They only dart once at the phantom, which they decry to be a substance having dangerous qualities. I have taken salmon on both Tweed and Don, but I would not like to affirm that they were clean ones. The phantom may now be bought at the principle tackle shops of London. [it would be better named the phantom smolt]”.

These lures ranged in size from about ½ inch to a whopping 7 inch (well, that is the biggest one I have seen), the range of paint style covers a huge range from plain silver or gold through to a very accurate brown trout pattern. Some Phantoms are marked with a “W.B & Son” on one fin only — I suspect that this stands for William Bartleet & Sons not to be confused with William Brown, Can any lure collectors out there confirm this?

Fishing Gazette advert for the Phantom Minnow.

William Brown like William Garden was a renowned fly tier. Kelson attributed the following flies to him in “The Salmon Fly”;

Gordon (variation), Silver Blue, Blue Charm, Yellow Eagle, Jeannie, Grey Eagle, Jockie, Gled Wing, Logie, Tartan, Sailor.

Reference to William Brown as a fly tier can also be found in Francis Francis “A Book on Angling” published in 1867. This quote is from a discussion on flies for the river Dee:

“Most of the flies are from Mr. Brown’s patterns, the well known tackle maker of Aberdeen, the inventor of the phantom minnow. He dresses them as few others can”.

Fishing Gazette advert for William Brown 1897. In the same issue George Smith.

The most important items of tackle to come from Aberdeen that I know of were sold at Sotheby’s sale on the 6th November 1985 and were catalogued as follows;

“A crank handled salmon reel, brass with convex plates and curved crank, free running, the back plate inscribed “Used by Wm. Brown for 30 years, Fishing Tackle Maker, Aberdeen, died 24th Jany 1877, 3 7/8in” and a four piece Fly Rod by Wm. Brown, Hickory and Lancewood and horn or whalebone tip piece, 18ft 3 in”.

As I was an impoverished student in 1985, I could not afford to buy the above, but, a few years later, I discovered who did. I’m still trying to do a swap.

Sale of the William Brown business.

In summary, the above is a taste of some of the tackle makers and retailers of Aberdeen and apart from the items in quotations, it is all my own opinion. If you disagree with any of it, for example the NE of Scotland pattern definition, please comment through the letter section; or with me direct. I am still very vague about the actual manufacturers of reels mentioned here and would really like to know readers thoughts. I hope I have shown that Aberdeen was an important town in the development and manufacture of tackle especially in the later half of the 1800’s.

I have tried not to go into details of the characters themselves because (a) I don’t know that much about them and (b) I don’t want to add to the lengthy nature of this article.

If anybody has further information on any of these makers, or has a reel from any of the earlier makers such as James Stratton or Ludovic Sandison please let me know. I am also interested in any information/photographs of folding handle winches, multipliers, clamp/spike winches or reels named on the feet from Aberdeen (even better would be some early catalogues).

Colin Innes - First Published in Issue 8 May 1995

Footnote. In April 2001 Colin finally got hold of the William Brown tackle when he bought it at auction. 

I have just looked on Angling Auctions web site and the results are now available on line. They make very interesting reading and many were thinking that that this sale would suffer coming so soon after Moore Allen had the single collection sale.

I have had a quick look and without doubt quality items always sell and the prices reached just reinforce this.

To see the results click here. 

With almost every antiques expert who appears on television willing us to leave all cleaning and renovation to specialists, it is a great temptation to leave one’s reels in the state in which they are found. Unfortunately fishing reels, by their very nature of their use, often suffer far more than other vintage and antique items due to misuse, lack of care and our inclement weather.

I have heard people say that reels should not be cleaned as leaving them in their dirty state adds to the “character” but to my mind this philosophy is merely covering up their own laziness. Most of us have our reels on display in our homes and, as we want them to look attractive (at least to us if not the wife) a little judicial cleaning and renovation is, in my opinion, quite in order.

The big problem with renovation is knowing when to stop and, hopefully, the following comments will be of help.

My first job, having acquired say a Silex, would be to clean the inside mechanism using a bath of paraffin and a paintbrush. A thoroughly good job can usually be achieved without the need to dismantle the reel thus avoiding the loss of springs and screws and much swearing! Next I dry the reel out with a clean cloth, finally spraying the inside with an aerosol degreaser to remove the paraffin film. Generally I find the inside mechanism of most freshwater reels looks good enough after this, merely needing a fine film of Vaseline on the springs and ratchet pawl.

However the sea reels are a different matter.

As a collector of sea reels I find they often come along in such a dreadful state that they do need dismantling in order to clean the corrosion off properly. Care should be taken when undoing screws to use the correct size screwdriver or damage to the screw slots will occur. Always considered one of the cardinal sins with shotguns it applies to fishing reels as well in my book.

The large pivot screws in the Hardy Silex reels, for instance, requires a hollow ground screwdriver blade such as those used by gunsmiths or the beautiful fine slot will become chewed and ugly. When cleaning up scruffy screw heads I spin them slowly in an electric drill, applying fine emery to take off the rust and any excess damage to the slots. A junior hacksaw is the best tool for re-cutting the slots, after first stoning down each side of the blade on an oilstone to ensure the preservation of thin slots.

To re-blue leaf springs and so forth, I clean off any rust with wire wool or emery cloth and them re-blue them with a cold chemical gun blue. The best one that I have found is an American brand called “Outers” but one must first ensure that the part is properly degreased or it will not take.

The very best thing that I have found for cleaning the outside of aluminium reels is a penetrating fluid called “Plus Gas”. Sold by car accessory shops, it is excellent for removing scale and accumulated “crud” without removing the finish (that is if one doesn’t rub too hard). The finish on the Hardy reels was achieved firstly by use of a bronzing acid, the reels then being polished, black leaded and finally lacquered. This black lead is worth asking around for, as it is no longer commercially available and the modern equivalent; called “Zeebrite” paste is a poor substitute. Most of the older generation remembers having to black lead the fireplaces and stoves so somebody somewhere must have some tucked away in a shed or cupboard. (Please get me some at the same time!)

However if you take a clean cloth with some “Plus Gas” on it and rub gently, not only will it remove the dirt but take away that dry look leaving the reel with a slight sheen.

Whether or not to clean brass reels is another problem frequently encountered. If there is a good patina on the reel or a reasonable percentage of bronzing then cleaning with Plus Gas will suffice, but if the reels are green with verdigris more drastic cleaning may well be necessary.

There are two types of verdigris to be encountered. The first, which is often promoted by the dressing from silk lines, is harmless to the metal. It can, like the dried line dressing (brown in colour) often seen on the reel drum, be removed using methylated spirit. The second and more serious is actually eating into the metal and must be removed.

A very useful fluid used by the clock trade is best suited for this purpose as it does take most of the hard work out of cleaning. It is called “Horolene” and when diluted with seven parts of water makes quite a corrosive brew. This is only for use on brass and steel, as it does not do aluminium any good at all.

When deciding to clean a brass reel, dismantle the reel completely and drop everything into the Horolene bath. I try and find the smallest polythene container that will accommodate all the parts in order to cover everything with the smallest quantity of Horolene.

Leave the reel parts for 2 – 4 hours, according to how tarnished the reel is, and then, wearing rubber gloves, gently rub each piece with either a very fine wire wool, golden fleece pan cleaner (stolen from the wife) or for tiny parts a toothbrush (somebody else’s). Having cleaned everything immerse the parts in boiling water to neutralise the Horolene.

It will be found that all the polish has been removed from the cow horn handles but they can be re-polished using beeswax and burnishing with a soft cloth. Having dried the parts off they can then be polished with “Duraglit” or, if a more abrasive metal polish is needed, “Solvol Autosol”. The later, unlike “Duraglit”, will leave unsightly white powder in all the crevices that will need to be brushed out (again with somebody else’s toothbrush)

I must confess to having buffed up brass reels on a buffing machine but only when trying to remove the scores left by some previous owner, guilty of attacking the reel with emery cloth.

Finally, lacquering the reel with a thin lacquer (again available from the clock trade) will preserve the polish if desired. Don’t forget, incidentally, to oil or Vaseline all moving parts when reassembling so ensuring the minimum of wear over the next 150 years.

Another category of reel encountered is those made of ebonite. These are often nickel silver bound and here “Duraglit” will not only clean the nickel silver but will also be found to be the best mild abrasive for cleaning the ebonite.

Ebonite, which is a form of hard rubber, starts life black in colour but will often fade to brown over the years. Sometimes it is possible to polish it back to black but this will depend on how bad the reel has faded. After polishing, the ebonite will have a dry look and a polish with a silicone cloth will feed life back into it.

Finally we come to wooden reels about which I must confess to having a particular penchant. The cheaper quality reels were made of mahogany and the better quality was of walnut. Three exceptions come to mind – one that I have in elm, one that I have in laburnum (recognised by the yellow streak running through the wood and usually of Scottish origin) and another I have in padouk (similar to mahogany to look at but slightly more orange in colour).

If you decide to strip down your wooden reel it is advisable, as with all reels to make certain that you are able on reassemble to put the screws back in their original holes. I sketch the reel out on a piece of card and then poke the screws through the card in the appropriate position as I remove them from the reel.

I have come to the conclusion that most quality wooden reels were French polished rather than varnished. There are plenty of books available on French polishing so I will not elaborate further.

Several years ago I decided that perhaps, like the cane rods, wooden reels had been finished with Copal varnish. I duly obtained a quantity of fresh Copal and proceeded to refinish a reel. I must confess to having obtained a superb finish, there being only one problem – it would dry but not harden. I put it in the airing cupboard for a month with no result. I hung it outside in the garden for two months still with no result. We moved house and again I hung the reel up in the back garden for a further two months, resulting in odd looks from our new neighbours. Finally, don’t ask me why, I put it in the fridge and eureka I had a result. The conclusion being, of course, that as no manufacturer could afford to have his production hanging around in his backyard for several months, they did not use Copal varnish.

But I digress. Let us return to the subject. I have found that “Liquid Gold” furniture oil is as good as anything for cleaning and enhancing the wood if the original finish is good enough to be left on the reel.

One point to remember though with wooden reels is try not to replace the wood screws with modern ones as the screws made these days have machined slots two miles wide and spoil the general appearance.

These then are some of my tips for looking after our reels. I personally derive much job satisfaction out of working on them and for me it is not a chore but fun. I believe that it is our duty to preserve tackle in order that future generations might enjoy and appreciate the craftsmanship that went into making it. I hope that more of us will take an interest in not just collecting but cleaning, renovating and conserving the wonderfully varied tackle that is our heritage.
John Drewett wrote this article for the second issue of the magazine in May 1994. He is considered to be the world’s leading expert on Hardy Brothers and his book “Hardy Brothers The Masters The Men and Their Reels” the definitive work on Hardy reels.

I sat down and looked at the Lost World of Mr Hardy and I did enjoy it. Upon reflection I wondered if that was just because I fished, collected fishing tackle and had a general interest in the history of fishing.

I then watched it again and this time with the idea of being critical of the film, well I did find some minor items, like a close up of an aerial reel at Mullock’s auction and then panning out and being at Angling Auctions. There were too many close ups of Aerials when they should have been Hardy reels and I did not understand the connection between Hardy Brothers and Chris Lythe.

I asked myself a question, was this film about a bunch of old men bemoaning the end of their era and refusing to acknowledge the arrival of the 21^st century.

I invited a few people, non fishing, to look at the film, groans of “must we”. Yes I said as I need to review it and I want an unbiased view and they would only have to look at a few chapters.

We saw the whole film, they were fascinated, they enjoyed it and like me they were of the opinion that we have certainly lost something in our so called progress.

You can buy the video from The Lost World of Mr. Hardy click here

Well it was so nice to see many old friends who I had not seen for a long time and a close look at some of the many fine items of tackle reminded me just what I had been missing. I know that there was some trepidation on the outcome of the sale, due to the unexpected sale at Moore Allen, but the packed room and a large amount of commision bids and booked telephone calls soon dispelled any fears of a bad sale.

I have not had the sales results yet but many items made very good money, the Hardy Cascapedia estimates at £10,000- 12,000 sold for £15,000.

This was a view of the sale in action.

James William Young was born in Redditch in 1870. His father William Young joined the firm of Samuel Allcock in 1874 as a tin maker. In addition to making boxes and cans he also made the tin lining for packing cases.

Three months after his arrival he was the companies principle reel maker. However because of his tinsmith duties he would often come into work at three o’clock in the morning to make the various tins, boxes and other items required of him before starting on the reels.

It is thought that the foreman of the various departments were not employees but self employed. The Owner would pay the Forman who would in turn pay his workers.

At this time in the history of Allcocks, reel making was in its infancy. Slater was still making wooden coaches and Hardy’s were just starting out to make white goods, reels were a long way off in the future for them.

Allcocks made their first brass reel in 1873, the year before William joined them. At this time only patent lodged with the Patent Office for a reel was by Rueben Heaton.

The great leap forward in reel innovation was yet to happen.

It was obvious that his father would influence James William Young. At the age of sixteen he had built the world’s smallest full working model of a penny-farthing bicycle.

The bicycle consisted of more than 400 hand made parts. Considering the technology of tool making at the time it was a wonderful piece of engineering and a fine achievement.

It is generally assumed that James joined his father at Allcocks and eventually took over his role as Forman of works. I have been unable to confirm or deny this, what is certain is that Samuel Allcock and James Young would have a working relationship that would last for many years.

THE DUPLEX REEL.

In 1893 James Young applied for a patent for a reel that could be quickly changed from an “ordinary one to a casting one” This reel was featured in the first issue of the Antique Tackle Observer and was sold as The Duplex Reel.

Allcocks launched the reel in June 1894 in a variety of sizes for salmon fishing. The reel could be set into free spool mode by turning the handle collet. By reversing this movement it could be turned back into an ordinary check reel. The pictures show the handle and collet, made of horn and milled brass. The drum core is brass with the front and back plates made of Aluminium.

HANDLE AND COLLET OF THE DUPLEX.

The rear view of the reel shows the check on off button in nickel silver and the screw pivot-housing bush also in nickel silver. The rest of the reel is made of brass and has a passing resemblance to an all brass Birmingham reel.

DUPLEX BACK PLATE.

At the time of getting his first patent granted James was living at the Lamb and Flag Hotel in Redditch. He describes himself as a fishing reel maker. Had his father retired to be the Landlord? I do not know and if anyone does please let me know.

In 1895 James was back at the patent office with Alfred Williams, son in law of Samuel Allcock. The patent was for improvements to reels known as “metal back Nottingham patterns”. The first was to construct the metal back in the form of a hollow disc, to hold the spindle and check mechanism. The second was to make the line guard in such a manner that it could, with a little pressure applied act as a drum brake.

The patent was first lodged in January 1895 and finally completed in September of the same year and accepted in October. What I can tell you is that in between the time of the granting of the provisional patent and the final acceptance James had moved to Oakley Road in Redditch. The reel had undergone a few minor changes as well. In the provisional patent the method of releasing the drum had changed from “a half turn with a small nut” “with eccentric motion” to the familiar spring release latch as seen on so many reels.

THE SIMPLEX REEL FIRST LAUNCHED AS THE STANDARD

In October 1895 the reel was launched as “The Standard” and received a glowing review in the Angler. They described this Allcock reel as being made of a brass drum with ebonite sides and “white metal” rims. In the copper back was housed the ordinary optional check mechanism. The line guard made of brass could be flexed and acts as a silent check. The Angler only found one fault with the reel and that was with the handles. They were not sunk into the reel or mounted on plates.

THE CENTREPIN OF THE SIMPLEX REEL

Two weeks later the Fishing Gazette reviewed the reel and this time it was called “The Simplex”. It was available from sizes 3 to 4 ½ inches. Allcocks claimed that it would be an ideal reel for salmon fishing, as only a slight touch on the brake would be needed to stop a running salmon.

The Fishing Gazette were not going to let them off so lightly pointing out the fact that the check fitted would not stop a powerful running fish.

Another fault they thought was the potential for a snag if the line got between the hollow back plate and the ebonite plate.

THE FULL BACK PLATE

Allcocks replied that they could fit any strength of check and that the ebonite back plate could have a groove turned in it so as to allow the rim of the back plate is recessed.

The reel shown in the pictures has had a full back plate fitted at some time in it’s past. Was this to overcome the potential problem pointed out by the Fishing Gazette?

THE CHECK HOUSING AND FULLY ENCLOSED BACK PLATE
This reel was not a great success; it was undoubtedly a very light reel at the time but it was also a very fragile reel. I have only seen three examples of the reel the one shown in the pictures and two as per the patent.

In 1896 Allcock launched the famous Coxon Aerial and some people have credited Young with its invention. I do not think so. He was already familiar with the patent laws having gone through the process twice. Why would he let Allcock take out the patent on his own? He was undoubtedly involved in the manufacture of the reel.

The skills needed to work the brittle and fragile ebonite were already in place. I know of a few Coxon’s that have the Young’s name stamped on the ebonite. In 1905 he was back at the patent office with an improved breaking device. He points out in his complete specification that this is not a locking apparatus for the Aerial reel but is an additional part.

In Jamie Maxstone Graham’s book on patents he says that no sealing fee was paid and therefore no patent granted. This is a mistake as it was granted on 30th November 1905. We can also tell that he was now a Fishing Reel Manufacturer at 27 Oswald Street in Redditch. Another point emphasised is the fact that a patent ran for 16 years.

So after 1921 it would not have been stamped on the front flange of the drum. I have seen some various people put some wonderful dates on Aerial reels with adjustable brakes and the word PATENT stamped on the drum. These range from 1896 to 1930. Although J. W. Young’s were essentially as reel maker they did take out a patent for an improved lock joint for fishing rods that could also be used in securing handles to tools.

This was in April 1910. By the time that this patent had been granted James had moved to 171 Mount Pleasant in Redditch and was obviously prospering. In 1911 S. Allcock & Co. together with James Young proceeded to invent a locking drum and combined brake mechanism for centre pin reels. This was a full six years after the introduction of the brake for the Aerial. This reel was called the Britannia and like the Coxon Aerial was available with a wood back and solid ebonite drum. Other models were available with an aluminium back plate.

One year later another patent was granted No 22420 and I must admit that this one has caused me some problems. It looks as if he was trying to improve the brake mechanism by using a lever and at the same time provide a facility to wind in any slack line. The drum is similar to the Aerial drum but I have never seen this reel. Does anyone have one? In 1919 another patent was granted for an adjustable lever brake and for a second emergency brake. Has anyone got one? There might have been other developments with the Aerial reel but in 1921 whilst on holiday in the Isle of Man James William Young died. It has never been established as to exactly what happened but the facts are these.

James had gone to Douglas with one of his sons but there was a mix up with the accommodation. There was no room so James went to the Carlton House where he was given a temporary bed in the drawing room on the second floor. His son went to the Lion House further along the sea front. The next morning Mr. Young was not in his bed, the window was partially opened and it was assumed that he had gone out for a walk. Some time later a Mr. Bernard Avoy found the body of James Young in a pool of blood in the basement with a severe wound to the head. A doctor was called who pronounced him dead.

There was a small ledge just in front of the window in the drawing room. It was assumed that not being familiar with the layout of the room he tripped and fell the twenty-two feet to his death in the basement. The Douglas coroner’s jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death. Two Redditch manufacturers, a Mr. Lewis and Mr. Heath, were staying at the same house and were able to help James’s son. The body was returned to Redditch where he was buried. Two sons Howard and James Robert worked for the company and carried on the business. Another son Edward E. Young joined the company in 1940. The company continued to take out patents and make reels as J. W. Young & Sons.

J.W.Young

I recently bought a quantity of reels at Angling Auctions for a friend. He was only interested in two of them and so we came to an agreement regarding the other four. Three were nothing special but one was intriguing.

Called the Expert it was made by the River Company in Gothenburg Sweden, this company was in turn owned by Malte Blohm.

I started to play around with the reel and eventually decided to dismantle it. What I found was amazing and gradually I formed an opinion of how it worked. After cleaning and reassembling the reel I thought it was time to put some line on and try it out.

The River Expert Reel

I selected an Abu Brilliant 5 ½ foot glass fibre casting rod with an Abu 12 gram casting weight, in keeping with the era, First cast and the biggest bird’s nest tangle I have ever seen in my life appeared before me. Eventually I managed to work out how to use the reel and I was impressed with its performance.

The handle end plate with star drag and handle removed.

The reel body is made from cast alloy with a hammerite finish. The handle end plate holds the multiplying gear, the tiny cog that drives the spool and the star drag.

The inner handle plate showing spool brake and bushing.

The inner plate holds the spool brake, spindle bushing and large drive cog bushing. The spool brake is the only means of stopping the line running off the spool.

The spool showing the centrifugal tufnol brake.

The spool is made of magnesium with two tiny pins that hold a brake made from tufnol which acts by centrifugal force. The spindle has a device that allows total free spool when casting and again it is centrifugal force, which hold the arms in when line is running out. Backwind and the arms engage in the recesses in the spool

The drive gear shown on the inside of the handle plate.
The opposite plate holds a very ingenious brake. The picture shows the five components that make up the entire outer end plate. The actual brake is made of extremely thin copper that has been punched out of a sheet to some very fine tolerances.

The reel endplate showing the complete brake assembly left to right; combined bushing and seal cap, locking ring, brake ring, endplate housing piece and copper brake pad.

The brake ring acts upon the radial arms of the sheet copper; this has three inclined protrusions that slot into the end plate. The copper in turn acts upon the spool; the required tension is set before the cast. There is a locking ring that holds the preset brake position.

The spindle mounted in the spool showing how when backwind is engaged it locks into the spool recesses. Note the tiny landing area that the copper brake acts upon.

The complete brake end plate assembly showing the three arms of the copper brake.
Malte Blohm was involved in many business activities including the importation and selling of motorcycles. He had an interest in sports fishing and this led him to explore the possibilities of making his own reels.

With his close circle of fishing friends he managed to acquire the technical knowledge to develop his first reel in the 1940’s. The reel was in either the Expert or the 500, we are not sure which, and differed from the majority of reels offered at the time as it had no level wind, it could also work in manual or free spool mode and came with a magnesium spool.

The River Expert Reel shown from the brake side.

The River Expert Reel box.

Tournament casters soon sought after the reel and it’s fame spread by word of mouth. The River 500 a cheaper reel that offered many of the features found on the Expert followed this.

Between 1953 and 1956 four more model were added to the range, and followed the traditional design by having a level wind fitted, the Royal, President, Favourite and Ideal. In 1956 a variant on the 500 was added and called the 600.

The demand for the company’s products would eventually lead to its downfall. It could not complete all stages of manufacture and therefore decided to sub-contract some of it out. This resulted in a fall in the quality of the reels and eventually Malte Blohm sold out to his friend Gote Borgstrom owner of Abu in 1959.

The company also made two close face reels the River Cast Elit and the River Elit 59 and there are a few prototype of a fixed spool reel in some collections in Sweden.

As far as I know the company never produce a catalogue and marketing was always a low profile affair. Knowledge of the company’s product come from a few adverts placed in the publication “Levande Livet” in 1956. The company did receive the Royal Warrant and variant of the Expert can be found with or with out it. There is also a greyish green model with black handles.

The 1956 advert for the River Reels in the magazine Levande Livet

John Brown Moscrop was born in Bury close to Manchester in the county of Lancashire in 1830. After starting his working life as an articled clerk to a firm of Architects he realised that it was not for him and left. His chosen profession was that of a cotton spinner.

He invented and patented the steam and speed recorder for spinning machines that was soon adopted by every textile mill in England. Various other patents followed and it would not be long before he turned his attention to his hobby - fishing.

He was a member of the old established fishing club The Manchester Angling Society. His first application for a fishing reel was in February 1888 and this was granted in April of that year. At this time he was living in the Manchester suburb of Urmston.

By reading the three patents that he submitted we could get some idea of how the reel progressed, developed and evolved into that reel which we know so well today.

The first model of the Moscrop reel with the internal clip fixing

The basic principle of the Moscrop reel was laid down in the first patent (document 2900) of February 1888.

1. The reel frame was cast in one piece and then machined out.

2. The improved construction of the drum, again cast from a single piece resulting in better line ventilation.

3. The method by which the drum is held securely in place on the frame.

I have never seen the reel shown in the patent drawing above and I believe it would have had a very short, if any, production run.

The reason is that the method of fixing the drum to the frame was not satisfactory, and would indeed have proved difficult to remove the drum. If you follow the axis A A on the patent drawing you can see where the hollow spindle has an annular groove cut into it.

Into this groove is inserted a steel spring clip. On the inside of the bore of the drum is cut a corresponding groove into which slots the steel spring clip.

Now patent 2900 was accepted on April 6th 1888 but on June 4th of the same year, (just three months later), he was back with an improvement. This patent, number 8122 are dated June 4th and are interesting in that the general outline is given in the provisional application.

Provisional applications allow the person submitting the new idea to get some form of protection without submitting great amounts of detail. Usually it allows them to think out and practically apply their ideas.

There were two improvements offered in the provisional application. The first was two friction plates to hold the drum and frame together, these also act as a drag mechanism.

The second was for the handle construction - and here we have something of a puzzle. I suspect that the original reel carried the improved handle but he had simply forgotten to include it in the original patent application, or possibly the construction had not been perfected.

However when the complete specification is submitted on March 2nd 1889, Moscrop only pursues the friction plate arrangement and specifically in relationship to the handle states “I do not desire to embrace the same in the present Specification” - I wonder why?

The reel in the photograph is the same as that shown in the patent drawings. It is made from “gun metal” which is actually a specific type of brass, and has a fixed check. The peg referred to in the provisional patent as a means of fixing a check pawl is missing.

The second model reel; with spring friction plates and screw

What we have, as can be seen in the photographs above, are the two plates and retaining lugs connected with a fixed screw head with the spring. By tightening up on the plate on the back of the reel as shown in picture 3 the drag for the drum is increased.

Every half turn there is positive locking of the plate.

The check mechanism on the second model fitted in the “conventional place.

There is no name on the reel but this reel, that matches the patent application perfectly, and the named special Moscrop shown later in the article, came from the same Manchester workshop, and therefore we can assume that it is a Moscrop reel.

The handle on this second model reel does conform to the normal Moscrop handle; I do not know why he did not add the handle details to the patent specification.

I can only imagine what was going through his mind once he had managed to get a working model of his reel into production - “How do I improve it?”

Well, in October 1891 he returned to the patent office with further improvements that radically differ from the second model and were a major innovation in reel design.

Patent 17501 drawing fig.4 showing the drag mechanism

He had also moved home during this time and was now living in a “better” area of Manchester, that of Platt Lane in the leafy suburb of Rusholme.

Patent 17501 was accepted in August 1892, nearly ten months after his initial application. He states in his opening preamble that the improvements refer to his two previous patents and these new ideas will result in a more efficient reel.

The first improvement was in the drag mechanism. The drawing fig 4 from the patent shows this arrangement on the reel drum.

A hollow tube, or flanged thimble as Moscrop calls it, ending at F acts upon the back of the reel frame. The hollow tube was under pressure by means of a spring tightened by a thumb piece G. The thumb piece was screwed in and this in turn acted on a threaded nut B that compressed the screw. The nut was prevented from revolving by having one side machined to match the barrel.

Again there was a major design change between the Provisional Patent and the Completed Specification. Originally the hollow tube, or flanged thimble, was not included but I suspect that under pressure the spring would have been distorted.

Patent 17501 drawing fig.6 showing how the pawl and spring mechanism is fitted

The next improvement was a radical departure from existing reel design. What Moscrop did was to fit the check pawl to the reel drum and the check cog to the inside back frame of the reel.

Conventional design before, and in the majority of cases since, was the reverse of this. The back plate of the reel drum was pressed out with a square profile into which sat the hollow tube and the check pawl. This change in profile again differed from the conventional curved style that had the check cog fitted to it. This square profile is clearly shown by the dark lines in patent drawing fig 4.

Moscrop calls the brass pillars that form the drum core lantern rods; this we must remember was at a time when lanterns for use in lighting were common.

What he does is fit the pawl to a wire that passes down a hollow lantern rod; Fig 6 from the patent drawing shows how this is achieved. The hollow rod K has the wire J passing through it. It is attached to another rod L. The hollow axis is W.

He also offers another method of fitting the pawl where he replaces the wire spring J with a coiled spring. I suspect that this was for larger diameter reels, as the straight wire would not have applied sufficient pressure.

The base of the reel drum on the third model showing the hollow spindle and the check pawl fitted inside the square recess.

Exactly why he chose this method of building a reel I do not know, I can not see any advantage with this arrangement but Moscrop does offer an explanation in the patent document.

He claims that the reel would have “greater rigidity” and “produced with less skill and trouble and consequently cheaper than heretofore”.

I disagree the construction of the reel would have required skilled labour, especially when all the improvements are looked at and evaluated.

The next improvement was one that as far as I am aware only applied to the Moscrop reel.

Here the handle has a hollow brass dowel inserted into the vulcanite. The stem is fixed like a rivet with one end beaten to hold it to the drum. At the other end a ring fits into a recess at the top of the stem and holds it in place thus allowing the handle to rotate freely between the drum face and the bottom of the handle.

The picture of the handle detail is from the second model and it is clear that the method of fixing it to the reel had already been solved.

The handle detail of the Moscrop reel. This is from the second model.

What was the reason that he did not include it in the second patent application, or did he have another method in mind? We shall never know.

The final improvement was in the method of fixing the drum to the frame. Again we see something specific to Moscrop reels, the famous Moscrop Medallion.

The “U” shaped clip and medallion with medallion detail.

The “U” shaped wire is passed through the disc this in turn goes through the hollow axis of the drum. This has two small holes near the top into which the wire clips thus holding the drum in place.

The bottom of the hollow spindle is slightly bevelled so that the drum can be located easily.

Moscrop made the first reels himself possibly using his own machinists who made his non-fishing products. They were offered for sale through the tackle shop of Will Chambers of 25 Market Place Manchester, although there is no mention of Will Chambers in the adverts.

S. Allcock are listed as the wholesale agents and would in future years play a major role in the story of this reel.

The reels offered were in five sizes with the two smallest having the option of no drag fitted. The sizes were 25/8, 3, 3½, 4 and 4½ inches. Later would be added the impressive 5¼ inch with double nickel silver rollers. It must have been a nightmare to use, as it weighed two pounds without line.

Moscrop advert - June 1893.

In 1894 the second Fisheries Exhibition was held at the Royal Aquarium. John Brown Moscrop shared a stand with the Cheltenham based company of Ogden & Scotford.

He was showing his complete range of reels including his latest improvement. Now the report states that he was hollowing out the spindle. This I think the writer had got wrong, what he was doing was removing material from the outside of the spindle to leave two small areas to act as a bearing surface.

The bearing surface for the reel made by removing the centre section.

Moscrop was offering to take back any of the old reels and carry out the modifications himself free of charge.

I expect that the problems of manufacturing the reels was getting too much for him and consequently in having appointed Allcock as his wholesale agent he took things further.

Chambers advert December 1893.

He sold all the models and patent rights to Allcock who manufactured the reels. When Allcock took on the distribution of the reel it was given the model number 4106 in their catalogue. Allcock added their own name to the medallion on the back of the reel and dropped the J.B.MOSCROP MANCHESTER from the reel foot.

The foot of the Moscrop manufactured reels.

They then started to make improvements to the reel and the first thing they did was to strengthen the check by fitting a check spring in the recess.

The model number was changed to 4107 in the 1910 catalogue. They also introduce the reel in aluminium with the improved check. This was given the model number 4107A and was available in all the same sizes as the gunmetal version.

The obvious advantage was the reduction in weight. The 5¼ inch model was ten ounces lighter than its gunmetal counterpart.

However there was an obvious problem with the handle on the alloy version because they had to fit a handle plate.

The illustration from the 1924 catalogue of model 4170 AM. Notice the handle plate.

In 1928 the last model was added, 4107AM. This is a very rare reel and I must admit I have never seen one. It was only available in the 5¼ inch aluminium and was for Mahseer fishing. The reel had two handles and was capable of holding 200 yards of the Allcock Anglo-Indian waterproof silk line.

By 1932 the complete range of reels had disappeared from the catalogues.

During the period that Allcock manufactured the reel they were always warning retailers to look out for imitations. They only way to tell that the item was genuine was to look for the medallion on the back.
I did once look at a few reels that a collector had which he was convinced were prototypes. At the time I was unsure but I now think that they were actually copies of the Moscrop reel.

The reel pictured over is a prototype or an attempt during the progression of the reel to come up with another method of holding the drum to the frame.

Prototype Moscrop reel.

There is no medallion and the hollow spindle has been replaced with a solid one. Note the size of the section of the frame where the foot is fixed, somewhere between the first and third model.

The foot of the Moscrop reel and the solid spindle. Note the size of the frame section where the foot is fixed. This is somewhere between the size of the first and third model.

The drum is held in place by what can best be described as a pair of nutcrackers that contract and open by action of a wheel.

The reel drum with drum retaining clamp.

The tension to operate the wheel is by a spring entwined in the lantern rods. Having examined the reel carefully it is obvious that this would be too expensive to manufacture.

The springs needed to operate the tension wheel.

I would like to thank John Drewett for allowing me access to his Moscrop reels.