This painting by C H Gifford was commissioned by the Cuttyhunk Club in 1870, in the background is one of the many long gone bass stands. Anyone know the reel?
From SWLCC.COM Site
THIS REEL IS IN THE POSSESION OF THE CUTTYHUNK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
IT IS AN ORIGINAL EDWARD VOM HOFE THAT IS ENGRAVED AND BELONGED TO CLUB MEMBER
WILLIAM McGRORTY.
There is an 1875 date on the Vom Hofe
The photo and painted reel look similar but one handle is in the S configuration the other a Z. I have Penns in both configurations.
Thank You, I've been looking at the painting for many years. It is now in the collection of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, not so many reels there but a bucket list place to visit if you have any marine interests, one of the best in the world. Contains the largest model ship on earth, you walk on it.
Cuttyhunker wrote:Thank You, I've been looking at the painting for many years. It is now in the collection of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, not so many reels there but a bucket list place to visit if you have any marine interests, one of the best in the world. Contains the largest model ship on earth, you walk on it.
My son played for the New Bedford Bay Sox in the summer of 2012 in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, and I have been to the whaling museum there several times. Small world.
Not necessarily. The crank shape is different, and that's probably important. And the counterweight. There are other possibilities, some that no one ever mentions, e.g., Rodgers, Hartill, Warrin, to name a few. Then there's the debate as to how accurate the painting is. IMHO, it's still an open question.
The fish is pretty photographic and he was doing this for fishermen who knew their tackle. For about a 3 x 5 foot painting he was paid the princely sum of $75.00. Buck went a little further 148 years ago. Cool painting. When I was a kid on the island some of the old timers then, you know, guys born in the 19th century talked about being bait boys on the old stands, they chummed up the stripers for the club members by throwing out lobster tails, fifty cents a bushel.
I have one, from the New Bedford Whaling Museum, they may have more or PM me, I have a higher resolution copy I'd be happy to email out. I see in the painting there is a slot in the counterweight.
