Help with Meek and Milam artifact?

[john elder]

Dave Gaustad always comes up with great stuff and this one has been in his collection for a number of years. It's a box that houses a sectional cane (not split cane!) rod..4 piece, although the one here is incomplete. Box has a spot for housing a 12 0'clock half-handle reel. The really interesting thing here is that the ferrule on the butt section is stamped Meek and Milam, Frankfort!




I suspect that can in the end is for holding hooks, but it's empty. The real mystery here is the logo that is on the box....took a bit of archeology to reveal it, but it's a fish (perch?) that has a "T" in an oval on one side and an "H" on the other. Dr. Todd thought if might stand for Thomas H. but I can't see a ghost of Chubb anywhere here. Has anyone seen anything like this before??

[john elder]

Here are a couple more views of the logo...a lot of it's ghost, but pretty clear if you catch the right light:

[RonG]

In my opinion, this is nice folk art. I like the box. I would say it's from up north somewhere. The fish is a Yellow Perch. I would say the cane pole rod was not made by Milam. It's too crude and not up to the standards you'd expect. Also, it was the advent of the short, about 5', casting rod that made the KY Reel popular per Mr. Henshall. This started out in the J.F. & B.F Meek days. I would doubt Milam would advocate a rod such as this. By the way, the original "Meek & Milam" stamp was floating around about 25 or 30 years ago. I don't know who ended up with it. These are my opinions. But remember, I wasn't there when it was made.

[reelsmith.]

I'm with Ron.

I don't see M&M putting their name on that piece. The quality is not there.

Dean.

[john elder]

Thanks for your thoughts, guys. Given what we know about Meek and Milam and the quality of their work, its hard to argue! Still be nice to figure out history of the combo.

[john elder]

Well, Ron/Dean, my gut response was to agree that M&M wouldn't lower themselves to making a 'cane pole'. Dave has corrected us on that one, pointing out the paragraph that Vernon and Stewart put in "fishing Reelmakers of Kentucky" on page 36, top of right column. Dave also has a letter that he obtained from Frank Stewart that I will post in a minute: here is the paragraph from Vernon/Stewart:



As indicated in that text, the ferrule on the rod in question is nickel silver, as i found out when I did a bit of polishing this AM:



Here is a pic of a perch, which I think is consistent with the fish on the box:







The "T" and "H" are still a mystery!

[john elder]

Here is the letter provided to Dave Gaustad from Frank Stewart, from Meek to Milam in 1863:

[RonG]

Interesting.

[Mike N]

That's pretty good provenance, John.

Also, it would seem to me that if the Meek & Milam stamp is flat it would have been stamped by its manufacturer while it was a flat sheet of metal prior to its being rolled into its current shape.

A subsequent owner stamping a curved product with a flat maker's mark would likely not look as nice as the one shown, but I defer to my machinist friends.

[reelsmith.]

Wow .....uh ...wow.

Dean.

[Richard Lodge]

What a unique item and great thread of a mystery! I fished with a cane pole like that when I was a kid but it sure didn't have that M&M stamp. I might have had some M&Ms in my pocket, though.

[tholmes]

I think I can solve the mystery of the initials. Since the initials are "T H' it was obviously custom made for me!

Tom

[john elder]

Well, at long last, I finally got this project done. Made a replacement Mid2 and tip sections plus re-wrap, NS butt cap replacement; repaired assorted box maladies. Should make a nice display piece till a better one comes along

[bettybarr]

John, you continue to astound us. It is a beautiful restoration. When that "better" presentation box comes along I can help you dispose of this one
Another testimony to your craftsmanship!

[john elder]

Thanks, Betty! When you have something like this with no real reference point, it's hard to determine whether you are restoring the original or something the rod had happen along the way. In this case, I went ahead and used what was basically fishing line to do the wraps, which is what was on the first mid when it came to me. Since it had been on there a very long time, I stuck with it. Whether that was how the rod left the "factory" is not clear. In any event, it tis what tis....