Polished Reels - A Disturbing Trend

[wrong99]

I've noticed in the last few years that more and more of the reels that I've purchased at auction have been machine polished. It's become a disturbing trend. It's often hard to tell from the photos provided by the auction houses if a reel has become a victim of extreme polishing. Looks beautiful from across the room, but once it's in your hand, there's absolutely no question what's happened to it. If I want to literally polish the value out of a reel, I can do that myself. Guys, clean the reels if you want, but put your polishers away. Anybody else been noticing this?
Mark

[spadej1]

I see a lot of highly polished reel photos and wonder this myself. I have yet to see any in person to say for sure.

[Richard Lodge]

Great topic and one I wish got in front of people selling reels online, thinking the polishing wheel will increase ... what.... the value? Nope. The allure? Probably not.

I bought this online in a Lang's auction last year. I knew what I was getting and Lang's made no mystery about the fact this very large James Haywood clamp reel had been polished and had a replacement wooden knob. I wanted the reel for the rarity of its size. Now I'm trying to figure out how to tone down that blinding finish a bit, short of hopping into a time machine, leaving the reel in a fishing shack next to the River Test for a few decades, then bringing it back for my 21st century collection. Neat reel, too bad an owner somewhere along the line thought it would look "pretty" this way.



BTW: I'll be at the convention in Tulsa on Wednesday and would love to see some Haywood reels for sale, or just to inspect.

[Mike N]

Richard wrote:”...Now I'm trying to figure out how to tone down that blinding finish a bit, short of hopping into a time machine, leaving the reel in a fishing shack next to the River Test for a few decades..”

Yep, that’s the real problem. It seems for some reason that old reels that have been polished are not going to get the beautiful aged patina back for a long, long time. It’s almost like the buffer sealed the metallic surface. I remember 30 years ago collectors putting polished brass reels in sealed Tupperware with diced hard boiled eggs to try to get them to tarnish again. Something about the sulfur...It usually just made for a foul-smelling, unevenly aged fishing reel.

As a collectors group, we have every right to establish ethical boundaries in our hobby. So, what is the consensus on the LEAST ETHICAL of these four actions by a reel collector? Can you rank them?

1. Buff polishing an old reel to a shiny finish?

2. Replacing a missing screw and not telling a new buyer?

3. Trying to add patina back to a polished reel by leaving it on the porch roof?

4. Buying a reel off a guy who inherited it, when he only asked you for an appraisal?

I’ll post my opinion later.

Mike N

[john elder]

Richard, a vinegar soak or even vinegar fumes can tame down the finish. You also soak parts in store-bought brass antiquing solution. The only problem is that it won’t remedy Mark’s main concern in that mechanical polishing rounds corners and screws.

[Brian F.]

A few months ago I would have offered you to let me give it a shot since I was sitting next to a gaping hole in the ground spewing tons of sulfer 24 hours a day. That all stopped and we've had clear skies for miles so you're out of luck. I will say that german silver reels I polished 20 years ago look like I never touched them today because, before sitting next to a volcano, I was catching direct salt air from the ocean. More than one way to skin that cat!

[Richard Lodge]

Hi Brian - I'm glad that sulfur gas isn't still spewing nearby but I think you're right about that being a cure for my over-polished 150-plus-old reel.
John - Thanks for the idea. I'll give it a try. I'm not trying to fool anyone, just want to make the reel look a little more "normal."

[Eric J]

In the coin collecting world, the practice is referred to as “whizzing” where unscrupulous sellers try to mimic the swirl of a mint coin.
It destroys the value of a coin, forever.
I know that polishing reels is not an attempt to make the reel look unused, and is probably an innocent attempt to make it look nice. Every episode of Antique Roadshow has an item that has been refinished and the value plummets. Except for silverware, it seems to be acceptable to polish old silver and doesn’t hurt the value.
I prefer original finish, but clean. A well used and cared for reel that is bright and shiny just looks wrong to my eyes, like a cleaned cork grip on an otherwise old used rod just seems out-of-place.
Collectors are free to do as they please with reels they own, but should be honest if selling about what they’ve done to the reel while they’ve owned it.

[Don Champion]

I have been preaching for years not to over polish reels, especially buffing. I hand polish mine but very lightly. Some collectors don't even like that. Back in the '90s I saw a lot of Kentucky reels buffed beyond salvage by members of the NFLCC.

[Deepfins791]

Interesting topic! I collect saltwater tackle, and avoid buying anything simply to flip. That means I shop for tackle that fits into my collection, and typically only sell if I am upgrading, end up with a second, or am running out of space/money and need to prioritize. Years ago I bought a 12/0 EVH that looked to be in excellent condition, until I opened it up. Yikes! The reel had definitely been inundated with salt water and left on the shelf to dry. I decided then that I would give every reel in my collection a good break-down, cleaning, re-lube, and hand polish. As a collector of saltwater tackle, that just seems to make sense to me. On the other hand, I have been on the receiving end of EVH's that were machine polished to the point that "divots" were polished into the rubber. Grrrrrr! So I can see both sides.

I live 2 blocks from the beach. In 3 years of sitting in my tackle room, one of my reels will have already acquired a patina, and lost its just-polished shine. No sulfur required!!

I also collect dive helmets. I would NEVER polish one of those, and risk loosing any of the original tinning.

[wrong99]

I usually don't deal in salt water reels too much, but I tend to cut come slack regarding polishing them, as opposed the bait casters I mentioned before. So many suffered from corrosion, that machine polishing is sometimes the only way to save them, I suppose. More drastic measures are certainly needed on many of them.

[Rook]

I personally don't have a problem with it. Even the factories polished some of their reels as special presentation reels such as this 20,000,000th million silver anniversery Mitchell 300 reel.

[Paul M]

Here is a reel being offered locally online. It is a Malloch Sun and Planet. The seller does not seem to know reels. I am guessing it is an estate sale situation. Looks like a great specimen except for the initials scratched onto the faceplate. I would grab it for my own collection of antique British brass reels other than for that flaw. SO what would you do, ignoring price negotiations? Let somebody else buy it? Buy it and leave it as is? Polish out the initials and let the patina reform over a few years? Just curious how others view a situation like this, given the topic.

[Rook]

Polish out the initials and let the patina reform over a few years? Just curious how others view a situation like this, given the topic.

Since I don't collect anything for resale I just do what it takes to make it look good for me. I try to keep my reels as close to original as possible but when I run across one that's to far gone I refurbish the whole thing to like new condition such as this Mitchell 301.

I sand blasted it and then repainted it. I purchased a NOS face plate for it. I've still not mastered the art of repainting the white Mitchell letters without making it look like crap.

[Steve]

Polish out the initials and let the patina reform...

Paul, are you sure that's not the original finish, rather than patina? If it is, I wouldn't even consider polishing.

[Nick in NY]

Years ago Thornton Ibbetson has a guy polishing/cleaning reels for him! I clearly remember him stating that he worked for him full time JUST POLISHING REELS! He probably had about 1,200* reels and has a special interest in pre 1900 reels....

[joe klaus]

Personally, I would make no effort to polish out the initials with the reel that’s currently on eBay. Perhaps it’s because I do not know how to do it, but I have never seen a reel cthat you could alter to the extent that you removed initials that were scratched into it without making it a noticeable alteration to the reel. I would not do it.

[Midway Tommy D]

I've still not mastered the art of repainting the white Mitchell letters without making it look like crap.

The main reason why you haven't been able to master repainting the Mitchell white lettering is because they weren't painted white in the first place. A close look with a loop or other magnification will show that those early reels were engraved through the paint and into the metal. What appears to be white paint is actually the light silvery body metal. That has fooled a lot of people for a lot of years. The lettering can be brought back close to original with a cut down stiff bristled artist brush and degreaser like mineral spirits or Original White Goop. I prefer using Goop because it doesn't dull or remove the paint. Patience, and persistence , is the key but they can look very nice in the end. I have done it to a few, very few, of the Mitchells in my collection but still have 25 or so to go.

[Rook]

The main reason why you haven't been able to master repainting the Mitchell white lettering is because they weren't painted white in the first place.

DUH! How embarrassing. It's hard telling how many hundreds of hours I've spent refurbishing old Mitchell's over the years and I never took a magnifying glass or loop to look closely at the lettering.

Well I can't blame it on old age because I was young when I was working on them in the beginning. Oh well at least I've already learned something here in just a day and a half. That's $40 bucks well spent.

Thanks Tommy D I appreciate it.