When I received the catalogue for Angling Auctions’ spring sale this year, I was intrigued by the description for lot 57. “A scarce DAM nickel silver 2½” dazzler style bait, the fish-shaped lure with five revolving sections, centre spindle and spring lock swivel to head, rear flying treble, stamped goat logo £100-150.” The first thing …
Victorian Registration Marks Shortly after I started collecting fishing tackle, I came across my first Victorian Diamond Registration Mark. I remember asking a few people what they meant, but I remember clearly that no one could give me a precise answer. I might not have asked the right people. Later, I came across another set …
Hardy Eureka No2 Reel With John Drewett’s book “Hardy Brothers” published, the chance to say anything new about Hardy reels has virtually disappeared. Fortunately, I found a reference to Ed Zern’s Tobique River reel for the last issue. I would never have expected to find another “new” reel cropping up so soon. The Hardy Eureka …
Collecting Fishing Tackle Having had many discussions with dealers, collectors and others involved in this hobby during the last few months, I should get some thoughts and ideas on paper regarding collecting fishing tackle. I will be covering the following topics; ●Trends ●What to collect ●When to sell ●Definitions JW Young antique Simplex fishing reel. …
Hardy Tournament Reels John Drewett’s book “Hardy Brothers” dedicates a whole chapter to Tournament reels up to 1955, and this article is only to bring people up to date on new information available since the book was published. James Leighton Hardy wrote his history of the company “The House the Hardy Brothers Built”, and once …
Otto Zwarg Fishing Reel Maker I have been promising various people for some time now that I would write an article on Otto Zwarg Fishing Reel maker. I recently met a subscriber who reminded me that he was desperate to learn as much as possible about the reels. On further questioning, I discovered that a …
Wyres Freres Display Cases Paris Shop At Christie’s auction house in South Kensington, we finally saw the El Helou collection of fishing tackle and related items. I had heard various stories concerning the collection, particularly the display cases from the Wyers Freres Paris retail shop. Photograph of the Interior of the Paris Shop Showing the …
The Hardy Tobique Rivers Reel. I was very interested to read the section on the Cascapedia reels in John Drewett’s book on Hardy Brothers. I am particularly interested in comparing these reels with similar reels made by the Edward Vom Hofe company around the same time. John mentions the Tobique River reel sold at auction …
Zephyr Floats. It is no accident that the name Zephyr was applied to the paper floats made by Ernest Talbot. Many people have speculated that the name had something to do with David Slater’s Zephyr reel, and more than one person has been disappointed when I told them there is no connection.Without the First World …
Army & Navy Co-Operative Society In 1871 a group of officers formed a Co-Operative Society to look after the needs of army and navy personnel. The Society intended to supply “articles of domestic consumption and general use to its members at the lowest numerative rates”. On 15th February 1872, the Army & Navy Co-operative …
