Wooden jointed boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

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Mike N
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Wooden jointed boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Mike N »

We see these small wooden boxes with sliding lids on occasion with labels like “The Milam.”

Does anyone have any research on who made these boxes, who printed the labels, what years they were used, and how to tell a fake from an authentic one?

Did Meek also sell their reels in such boxes, and if so, why aren’t there any around, and for that matter why aren’t there more Milam boxes in existence? Surly thrifty families would save such boxes for other uses. By the way, I’ve seen small wooden Milton-Bradley toy company boxes that were almost identical.

Thanks.

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Last edited by Mike N on Sat Mar 10, 2018 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by wrong99 »

Every one of those boxes I've seen look too new.
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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Mike N »

Not very encouraging when after 70 views by some of the nation’s top collectors no one has any research to share on these reel boxes.

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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by john elder »

Mike, I don't recall anyone doing anything formal for reel boxes, but a lot of research has been done on fake lure boxes, both cardboard and wood....Joe has has made a site for this:

http://www.joeyates.com/fakes.htm

I haven't been through it, but you can bet that the same folks doing those boxes would be happy to take on reel boxes and likely have done so
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Specializing in saltwater reels...and fly reels...and oh, yeah, kentucky style reels.....and those tiny little RP reels.....oh, heck...i collect fishing reels!...and fly rods....and lures
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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Jonathan P. Kring »

I've got this nice little wooden bank box with dove tail joints my Mom gave me several years ago before she passed away. I could antique it put a couple of reels in it and have a relic! I can't even spell counterfeit!
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Mike N
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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Mike N »

Here is a similar slide top, jointed wooden box with a paper label from Milton Bradley I picked up at a Cincinnati NFLCC show 30 years ago.



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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Mike N »

Here are 2 more Milton Bradley box images from Google:


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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Mike N »

And here are photos of a box currently being offered on eBay with a No.2 reel:



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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Paul M »

If that is a modern repro, the label will probably glow under a blacklight. Antique paper does not glow but you won’t know until it is in hand.
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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Mike N »

For educational and comparison purposes, I’d like to get photos up of as many wooden Kentucky reel boxes as possible. I trust that two scholars of our hobby, Ron G. And Steve V., won’t mind my posting the following with attribution:

From Ron Gast’s luresnreels.com website:





And from the cover of Vernon & Stewart’s “Fishing Reel Makers of Kentucky,”



And here’s a photo from Google images taken by The State Journal:

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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Bill Sonnett »

Jerry Martin always cringed when the term "dovetailed" was thrown about in describing wooden lure and reel boxes. Truth is they are all "box joint" construction not "dovetailed".
I love to get old reels, work on them until they run as smooth as silk and the take them fishing using pre-1960 plugs, mostly surface fishing for Largemouths after dark.
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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Bill Muth »

We have been around this block before, I remember it painfully. . . .

http://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopi ... =milam+box
Wanted: Horton, Bristol & Meek reels, reel boxes, and catalogs!!!!
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Re: Wooden dovetail boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by Mike N »

Bill Muth wrote:We have been around this block before, I remember it painfully. . . .

http://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopi ... =milam+box
Thanks, Bill M. I guess every 6 years is my discussion cycle. I was even told back then in that thread that those were finger and not dovetail joints but made the same mistake here,and corrected it after Bill S. pointed it out above.

I suppose so long as new collectors are being offered these boxes an occasional re-opening of the discussion is healthy.

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Re: Wooden jointed boxes for Milam or Kentucky reels

Post by kyreels »

Here is a widely sold repro box and label I have left separate to show the detail. Personally, I would stay away from any box that looked a lot like this repro, since the labels were sold without the box, and it would be easy to obtain an old box that fit it.

I have seen a number of boxes over the years that I consider legitimate. Most had provenance from the field that seemed good. It would be nice to get the photos together and see if we can make more history from it, perhaps in the future we can do so.

Matt Wickham
Collector of Casting Weights, KY Reels and KY Tackle
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