Fake Vom Hofe question

[giga5486]

I have a 1935 Edw. Vom Hofe catalog I was noticing in the catalog it states watch out for imitations.

How do you identify an imitation? Was this a big issue back then? I am aware of drilling a hole in the foot.

[john elder]

Ii always read that as an advertising ploy more than a real reel problem. It was certainly a competitive business, but i think they were more touting themselves as worthy of imitation. The single hole was, of course, Julius, and given his many reels with weak or no labeling, a single hole might make for a montague passed off as a JVH. I can't remember seeing an Edward that didn't have prominent label on the bearing caps.

[Don Champion]

There were some reels using one of two Vom Hofe patents that were made by other companies that were not associated with Julius. He sold at least part if not the whole patent to Abbey & Imbrie so they were free to have anyone they wanted make those reels. I have one of those. Comments Steve?

[Ray Hencken]

Could the statement in the EVH catalog be in reference to his brother JVH reels, especially the B ocean salt water reels?

[Steve]

Don, I agree.

That warning is non-specific. Reelmakers past and present have imitated each other forever. Julius constantly advertised that "All genuine reels bear my name." T. Conroy and Kiffe battled over the branding of their Silver King reels. Hendrick used JVH-like rosettes on a reel made in JVH fashion. Squires complained about others "copying" a reel of his design. And look at the number of mass-produced reels that imitated the hand-made Kentucky reels. Just like the fashion industry...and the auto industry...and the vacuum cleaner industry...and the (insert any name) industry.

[Tightlines666]

Quality is often imitated, but never duplicated:)

[reeltackle]

I get the feeling that there was perhaps a little tension between the brothers Edward and Julius. I'm sure most of you have seen the label below, I have seen a couple of variations of this label on both boxes and inside leather case lids. It seems to me that it is like a "Beware of imitations" only in sticker form but more than "kinda" directed at brother vom Hofe.

Perhaps this was just Edward's way of saying to folks who did not know any better that there were two competing vom Hofe companies -"Hey, this is an Edward vom Hofe reel".

My observations suggest that Edward did a whole lot more advertising and certainly put out a lot more catalogs over the years than did Julius. Advertising costs money and the whole purpose of advertising is to attract customers to come in any buy your product, not your brother's. Now a customer comes into the store and is looking for that vom Hofe reel (Edward) he saw advertised in the Field & Stream magazine and oops, he buys a Julius, not an Edward because he just didn't know there were two vom Hofe companies making reels. Hence, the label below and "Beware of imitations". Just speculating here, anyone else have any thoughts on this?

I wonder if anyone knows what the relationship was like between Edward and Julius? Was there a cooperative work arrangement? Did they share ideas? Were they competitive? Did one resent the others success? Did they meet for drinks after work? Did they ignore each other at family reunions? Did they hate each other like poison? It would certainly be great to know more about their relationship with each other. Also the relationship between Fredrick and his sons. Anyone????

[john elder]

OUch! Oh, my.....subtle sticker, eh Ed??! not much need for reading between the lines there. If one looks at the product lines, I would think they, for the most part, stayed off each other's toes until the B Ocean came along. Other than salmon fly reels, there weren't a lot of directly competing reels in those two lines, were there? Seems Julius paid the mortgage mostly with reels much smaller than Edward made.

[Steve]

until the B Ocean came along

By that time, you're not talking about the same two people.

[reeltackle]

Yes Steve, you are, as always, semantically and chronologically correct. My first three paragraphs should refer to the combatants as companies and not as individual men. My last paragraph stands as is.

The original question stated by giga5486 inquired about the 1935 catalog. I'm not sure exactly when the stickers were stuck on boxes and cases but I am guessing from the reels I have seen in those boxes and cases that it was most likely the 1920s and 1930s. So, as Mr. Vernon so correctly points out, the tension I suggested would not be between Edward and Julius the brothers, but instead between the Edward vom Hofe Company and the Julius vom Hofe Company. So in my first three paragraphs please substitute "Edward vom Hofe Company" for "Edward" and "Julius vom Hofe Company" for "Julius". A tip of the hat to Mr. Vernon for making me make myself clear.

Still ........ it would sure be interesting to have some insight into the Fredrick - Julius - Edward dynamic.

[Steve]

the Fredrick - Julius - Edward dynamic

Act I
Scene 1
F: Enough mit der singing! You vill vork mit me making pfisching reels!
J: Jawohl, Vater. I would like nothing better. I like the way you imitate those Conroy reels. But we should add this little bridge I came up with.

Scene 2
F: Edvard, guten luck! Ich bin proud of you for striking out on your own.
J (aside): Ach du lieber! Just what I wanted to do, dammit.
E: Danke, Papa. See you around the quad, Julius.
F: As a haus-varming present, you may use your bruder's bridge in your reels.
J (aside): Curses! Foiled again!

Scene 3
J: Yo, Papa, my silly little brother is using that Goodyear garbage for his reels.
F: Ach du lieber! Vat ist der world coming to?

Act II
Scene 1
J: Yo, Papa, Edward's reels all look the same. I will make a lot of different reels for wholesaling.
F: Pfine, pfine. Vatever you vant.

Scene 2
E (aside): That bridge is sehr gut, but my sliding click is better. Everyone will want to use it.
J (aside): That click is okay, but everyone already imitates my bridge.
F: Ach du lieber! Vy can't ve all get along?

Scene 3
E: What makes your reels stop turning? See, I use these clever brakes.
J: So what? Little Julius will come up with better ones.
E: And I see you are using that Goodyear garbage these days. Hah!
J: So what? Everyone else uses it, too...your imitators, my imitators.

Act III
Scene 1
E: See my latest? I will sell millions of these little spanner wrenches.
J: So what? That drag can't compete with reels with little holes in their feet.

Scene 2
E: Tell you what, wee nephew. Why don't we cooperate for a change? We can use my drag with your free spool gadget in the same reel.
J, jr.: Ach du lieber! Papa would have loved this. Brilliant idea, like a shining star!...(aside) Which gives me another idea!

(Exeunt)

[reeltackle]

Wonderful stuff Vernon, I particularity love der German vernacular.

To add more facts to this "Fake vom Hofe" thread -

Having accumulated all of the vom Hofe diaries over the years I have looked through them to try and glean what a day in the life of the vom Hofe family must have been like. Below are excerpts from the diaries of:

Fredrick vom Hofe
Julius vom Hofe
Edward vom Hofe
Clara vom Hofe - Julius's wife
Elizabeth vom Hofe - Edward's wife
Julius vom Hofe Jr. - Julius's son, age 16
Edwin vom Hofe - Edward's son, age 9
Clarence vom Hofe- Edward's son, age 5

All the diary excerpts are taken from their respective diaries from the exact same day - October 4, 1887

Perhaps this will shed some light on the "imitation" issue as well as a few other vom Hofe mysteries.

Diary excerpt: October 4, 1887: Julius vom Hofe -

Today was a lovely brisk autumn day so I decided to partake in a stroll up Fulton street after work. Along the way I spied Eddy coming along towards me but he appeared to be quite distracted and crossed the street about 50 yards ahead of me. I called out to him but he must not have heard me over all the hustle and bustle of the city and proceeded along at quite a clip. I wished to buy him a drink to toast my recent sales increases and discuss with him his ideas on why my sales have taken such a great leap forward. I guess my quality work is finally gaining the long overdue recognition it should have garnered all along. Alas, poor Eddy has been telling father that his sales have been quite flat as of late, I guess he is to proud and does not wish to broach the subject with me.


Diary excerpt: October 4, 1887: Edward vom Hofe -

I just received the 40th letter this month where within the customer states that he saw my advertisements in the trades and thereupon purchased a reel thinking it was one of mine only to find out later that it was of inferior grade and made by my brother Julius. Julius, my older sibling Julius, Daddy's favorite little boy, first born prodigal son, happy go lucky no talent wouldn't know a good reel if it hit him on the head Julius, the fair haired darling of the family. I have spent a small fortune on advertising as of late and it would seem all for not, unless of course, you do not take into account the ledgers of my dear brother Julius! Oh that dimwitted brother of mine Julius, he bumbles along in his inept business way and then to top it all off manages to reap all that I sow. I saw that bounder coming toward me on the street today, a smile upon his smug little face so I crossed the street and pretended I did not hear his pleas for my attention. Julius, oh Julius, my brother and maker of inferior products, I rue the day that you were born!!


Diary excerpt: October 4, 1887: Clara vom Hofe - Julius's wife -

My dear simpleminded Jules seems to be riding on a cloud of angles these days. He says he must be blessed and so it seems he is. He says his sales have soared and he has done nothing different in any way, shape or form to effect this outcome. His joy is great and we wish to share our great fortune with his dear brother Edward and to this end I have tried for weeks to invite their family over to dine but they have declined my invitations with regularity. I fear that all is not well with them.


Diary excerpt: October 4, 1887: Elizabeth vom Hofe - Edward's wife -

My poor Edward, I do worry about him so. For the past several week he has come home and sequestered himself away in his study. When I go in late at night he is dead to the world, an empty bottle of whiskey is the only companion found by his side. I try and rouse him but all he can do is incoherently grumble such horrible hateful things such as "Julius, Julius, that that simpleton brother of mine". I fear for my poor Edward and I fear that his behavior is having an effect on poor little Edwin and Clarence, they are so young and impressionable.


Diary excerpt: October 4, 1887: Julius vom Hofe Jr. - Julius's 16 year old son -

A dentist is what I wish to be more than anything else in the world! Oh to be a dentist. Papa also seems keen on the idea and to this end has been encouraging me by letting me come to the factory each day and letting me practice by drilling precise little holes in the exact center of the reel seats. He says if I practice, practice, practice perhaps someday I will be good enough to try drilling holes in teeth as well. Dear Papa, I do love him so and I do so want to be a dentist. Today after dental practice Willie Boschen came over to play, much was my joy. He taught me how to make my toy horse cart stop on an incline by tightening down a star shaped gizmo he had attached to the cart's wheel. I am lucky to have such a bright friend as Willie.


Diary excerpt: October 4, 1887: Edwin vom Hofe - Edward's 9 year old son -

Poor Daddy, there must be some way that I can please him so that he will return to us in spirit. To this end I pledge to be just like him so as to please him and from this day forward I will strive to build reels that look exactly like his for as long as I shall live.


Diary excerpt: October 4, 1887: Clarence vom Hofe - Edward's 5 year old son -

As God is my witness I pledge now and forever that, if I live long enough and can gain control and be the sole proprietor of father's retched reel company I will sell it so fast it will make all of their heads spin!!


Diary excerpt October, 4 1887: Fredrick vom Hofe - age 126 -

Kondome, ich hätte Kondome verwenden sollen!

[Steve]

Great info, Pritch! Fritz probably didn't trust anything remotely associated with Goodyear.

[Midway Tommy D]

Dang it, Ed! You had me, although with a little skepticism, sucked in 'til Clarence.

[oc1]

When I first read the Vom Hofe story the first thought was that Fredrick was old school. Family businesses, wealth and title were traditionally transferred to the eldest son as a way of preserving the family status and not diluting it among many offspring. It was an Old World concept that had worked for about a thousand years. Younger brothers had been malcontents all the while. Now the Vom Hofe's are Americans and the kids grow up with a lot of new-fangled ideas. Edward, the progressive malcontent younger brother, is very unhappy about the old man's Old World ways. He can't accept the business being handed over to Julius and vows to show them all up if it's the last thing he ever does. Perhaps he did.
-steve

[RonG]

Good point oc1. You could always tell Ed and Julius were not buds. Hard to say which one ended up to be regarded as the best. I like them both.

[Jim Schottenham]

A dentist is what I wish to be more than anything else in the world! Oh to be a dentist. Papa also seems keen on the idea and to this end has been encouraging me by letting me come to the factory each day and letting me practice by drilling precise little holes in the exact center of the reel seats. He says if I practice, practice, practice perhaps someday I will be good enough to try drilling holes in teeth as well.

Ah-ha! Now we know the origins of the perforated Julius reels!

[RonG]

Drilled holes in reels are nice!

[Jim Schottenham]

Agreed!!

[Steve]

Ray, wipe your keyboard.

[JoeW]

Yup--- nothing like perforations to not only add to the functionality but to the eye appeal as well! This is from my humble collection of "homers" once again. Holes are not as perfectly spaced as the Vom Hofe's, but the maker tried his best, I'm sure!

Yes, not everything was just ginger-peachy with the lure makers either. Patent theft, infringements, lawsuits, accusations, innuendos, and downright lies! Not quite the gentlemen and friends that might have appear to have been. Dog-eat-dog even then. Best----- Joe Walkowski (WNY)

[reeltackle]

Speaking of holes ...... let's fill in another one with another entry from the somewhat questionable long lost Edward vom Hofe diaries.

We've all seen the photo, so, as Paul Harvey would say ..... here is the rest of the story.

Diary excerpt April 30, 1898: Edward vom Hofe

Ah Julius, Lucifer's taunting laughter thunders through my head as he whispers in my ear that I shall never escape the unspeakable burden of your presence no matter how far nor how fast I run. I fear that I may be going quite mad. Even here in Florida where I have come per my physicians orders to escape the stress of just knowing that you are alive you continue cause me endless insufferable humiliations.

Alas, on a day when I should have been at my most relaxed, fishing for tarpon with my friends at the Tarpon Lodge on Useppa Island I find that you haunt my days like a child running from unimaginable beasts in his worst nightmares from which he can never hope to awaken. The day started out so pleasantly with some delightful banter and a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and chickaree. After finalizing my morning ablutions we departed the docks at 8:30 and worked our way across the flats to the mangroves on the lee side of the island. Upon rounding the northern point of the island we spied a school of tarpon that only heaven could have delivered unto us. I had the new 491 6/0 Universal Celebrated Bass & Tuna reel spooled with 29 thread line and was convinced that there was no reel finer for the task at hand than this, my crowning achievement, the reel that I had personally perfected only a few months earlier. I cast into the school and one of the smaller fish, an 50 pounder, quickly turned and struck my mullet with great alacrity. I was at once exhilarated, and my heart began to pound rapidly within the confines of my breast as the line fairly flew off the reel. As the fish slowed its initial run I began to apply the universal tension drag and the reel suddenly began to smoke and wobble so in my hand that I thought it would shake my wrists lose from my forearms. Suddenly, and without warning I heard a pinging sound and then the clatter, clatter of gears coming lose from their stations deep within the reel. I watched in horror as the reel fairly disintegrated in my hands and right before my eyes and the eyes of my fellow anglers.

God knows I should not have boasted about the reel as I did to all who would listen back at the lodge the previous evening. And now the eyes of my fellow anglers in the boat, the eyes that could now not engage my own spoke volumes as to my embarrassment and shame. If not for my clothes I could have seeped through the fine seams in the planking of our skiff.

I must, if nothing else, attest to the integrity of my fellow anglers as to a man not one of them so much as mentioned the incident but instead immediately handed me another rod and reel and encouraged me to cast back into the school for another fish. I took up the rod and made a second cast and this time the behemoth of the school charged the mullet and swallowed it up in one monumental gulp. I struck the fish with all my might and, Great Jehovah, if my hook did not catch in the corner of the Megalop's gaping maw. I was now stuck fast to this monster and it was only then that I took my first critical look at the tackle I was handed after my greatest moment of shame.

Ahhhh, somewhere the sun is shining brightly and fragrant flowers bask and bloom in its glorious light, the same sun that rises in splendor and sets with all the colors of Gods bountiful pallet. There is a place where the angels glide softly among the clouds singing in their heavenly voices ........ and this place, is a place where I will surely never dwell.

Darkness, darkness, all around me is darkness and despair.

It took me but 15 minutes to dispatch this world record 210 pound tarpon on the Julius vom Hofe 250 yard spider drag reel that I was handed. This inexpensive, steaming heap of garbage built my feeble-minded older sibling had functioned flawlessly. I say it now ... if there is a God he has most certainly forsaken me!!!

Back at the dock they readied what should have been my crowning achievement for a photograph. I was quite beside myself, the uncontrollable twitch had returned as had the ringing in my ears, the horrible headaches and the soft voices singing Julius's name. As to make my humiliation complete, I held the destroyed Universal reel as they took my photograph with the great fish. As I stood there rod in hand I became acutely aware that my mental health was rapidly deteriorating and when I thought of Julius and his reel, try as I might, I could not control the fits of spontaneous laughter bursting forth from my mouth. I wonder .... perchance did anyone else noticed?

[john elder]

You want holes??! I'll give you holes!! Little Julius don't know nuthin' about holes!

[RonG]

WOW ! that is awesome. You win.

[reeltackle]

Holy Moley John, Jules Jr. ain't got nothin' on that baby!