A shiny, polished “vintage” reel

[Mike N]

What an oxymoron. A vintage reel without patina is...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/302895429379?u ... noapp=true

[john elder]

Mike, I think the problem is the there’s no middle ground with brass....start polishing and it looks like crap till you get to the place this one’s at. Brass is really beautiful, but I agree a polish job on an old reel is not desirable..at least to us. These are usually also clear-coated to keep them that way. I’ve had pretty good luck stripping that off in diluted vinegar, then I either just let it oxidize naturally or speed things up with an ager.

[Mike N]

John:

Let’s just say, I understand, but I still don’t “get it.”

Mike N

[m3040c]

I feel the criteria of this polishing job was to make money.

I look at the stand and see the polisher did not bother to straighten out the bend in it.

The reel appears to me to be not so special. It looks like a Montague or something along those lines. Maybe I am wrong as this type reel is not my strong point; but, I know I am not impressed by the reel itself and believe the polishing job is what will make it desirable, not so much the product itself.

[1badf350]

Someone will buy it and be happy.
Someone will pass on it and be happy.
One mans trash is another mans treasure, as the saying goes.

[Paul M]

I compare to a brass reel in my collection with a similar golden finish. Mine was obtained 11 years ago at the ORCA Convention in Dowagiac and has not been touched since I had it. I would say my reel has never been opened or buffed. Aside from several years of visible tarnish and a few spots of corrosion on mine, mine has a similar finish to the subject reel on eBay. I wonder if the eBay example was excessively buffed or simply polished with a wipe of Simichrome. I think it was just wiped clean (like it or not) and it is the original shiny golden finish that you see and don't like. I don't know what that finish is called but I think that was the way it was made. My example:

[Steve]

It's a Kopf, possibly hyperpolished to remove some leftover plating.

We've stood and talked like this before (more than once). Eventually, a patina will return and will darken your display shelf once again. Here's a pseudo-before and after pic: 2 similar reels, 1 freshly cleaned and hand-polished (lightly...not a mirror finish) and another that was cleaned similarly and was allowed to age a few years more on a shelf. There's no need to fear a polished surface, while realizing that hyperpolishing can remove factory markings.

[Rick H]

Steve....always the calm, level head. Very reassuring.

[john elder]

[Steve]

Thanks, Rick, but it's only after the morning coffee.