"Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

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Paul M
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"Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

Post by Paul M »

This reel marked Henry Shaw Maker, Salop, came up for sale near me and it looked pretty interesting. According to Fishing Reels, Collecting for All, Vol II by Phil Waller, reels marked Henry Shaw date between 1875-1880 and he operated near Shropshire, England (AKA Salop). I wonder how Salop was derived from Shropshire? Apparently this raised pillar winch design is for trolling, not fly fishing and the dual cross pillars on each side towards the foot are rollers. It is a single action reel with a massively thick handle arm. One interesting feature (recently discussed in another thread) is that the "raised check" housing aka "bump out" or "tophat" appears to be a screw-off design.

The handle looks like wood but may actually be (bovine) horn. I need to take a closer look. The reel needs a light cleaning and it has some faults from age (but you would have faults too if you were about 140 years of age). It is a nice addition to my antique brass reel accumulation but it is getting harder to make room for these big old reels.



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Re: "Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

Post by Paul M »

I forgot to mention that in the collector book noted above, Phil Waller suspects that reels marked Shaw were trade reels, possibly made by Heaton or some other large manufacturer.
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Re: "Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

Post by reelsmith. »

Nice !

That's a classic pattern ...with at least one variation.

Does the check housing screw off ?

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Re: "Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

Post by Paul M »

Dean, it looks like the check housing was designed to screw off but does not budge under hand pressure. I assume it is fused with old grease and needs some TLC to get it off.
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Re: "Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

Post by Steve »

I wonder how Salop was derived from Shropshire?
It wasn't. Blame it on the Normans:
"The origin of the name "Shropshire" is the Old English "Scrobbesbyrigscīr" (literally Shrewsburyshire), perhaps taking its name from Richard Scrob (or FitzScrob or Scrope), the builder of Richard's Castle near what is now the town of Ludlow. However, the Normans who ruled England after 1066 found both "Scrobbesbyrig" and "Scrobbesbyrigscir" difficult to pronounce so they softened them to "Salopesberia" and "Salopescira". Salop is the abbreviation of these.

When a council for the county was set up in 1888, it was called "Salop County Council". The name was never popular, with Ludlow MP Sir Jasper More raising an amendment to the 1972 Local Government Bill to rename the county "Shropshire"[1] - at the time the council itself opposed the change, although later, in 1980, would exercise its power to legally change the name of the county." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Shropshire

The demonym is "Salopian." Guess what the name of the local subway is.

And while we're at it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Shaw_(taxidermist)
https://books.google.com/books?id=gDMHA ... op&f=false

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Re: "Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

Post by Paul M »

After a quick ultrasonic soak in mineral spirits, the check housing cap unscrewed without any effort.... and after a wipe with a paper towel it looks like the reel may have been silvered. The grasp is bovine horn, not wood.

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Re: "Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

Post by Nick in NY »

Nice! Every couple years or so I find myself sidetracked by something other than big game, salt water Kentucky and Holzman reels! What a surprise to unscrew the plate and find a silver plate not to mention being well over 100 years old! I've just started AGAIN with pre 1900s saltwater reels until that something special is found and I part with them once again to make room!
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Re: "Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

Post by Mike N »

I feel like I should be kneeling in the confessional when I say this, but I’m really, really starting to like these 1860s engraved British reels.

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Re: "Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

Post by Mike N »

Paul M wrote:This reel marked Henry Shaw Maker, Salop...I wonder how Salop was derived from Shropshire?
Definition of 'Salop'
(ˈsæləp )
noun
a former name (1974–80) of Shropshire [these dates must be a typo?]

Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
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Re: "Henry Shaw, Salop" English trolling reel circa 1875

Post by Paul M »

I saw an illustration of the screw-off clicker housing in Fly Reels of the Past by John Orelle that lead me to his source, The angler's complete guide and companion: being a practical treatise on angling and its requirements, with beautifully-executed illustrations in colours, of the artificial flies for the different months, and highly finished engravings of all other necessary tackle, by English reel maker George Little, published in 1881. He shows the following illustrations showing both the same handle, the paired rolling pillars and screw-off check housing with a similar spring/pawl assembly and claims he patented the reel design 40 years "since", meaning circa 1841. This is the same reel design as the reel marked Shaw. Also, the text indicates this is a reel for salmon. The book has fly patterns and there is no mention of using this reel for trolling so now I wonder if it is actually a huge fly reel for salmon.

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