Ball Handle Reel ID

[Bill Muth]

Picked up a nice reel in a style I don’t usually see here in the Midwest. Just looking for info on the maker. Only marking is 3 1/2 on the foot. The rim mounted pull button brake seems to appear on a few different models, did not see it in a quick scan through Mr. Vernon’s book.

[Steve]

Bill, it's very JVH looking. With these things, it's always helpful to see the foot/crossbridge intersection and, of course, the inside.
Ball-handle intersection variations:

Couple of JVH ball-handle details:

[Bill Muth]

JVH it is! Thanks Steve.

[Mike N]

Bill, that’s a great find. There is just something classic and workmanlike about a nice German silver or brass ball-handle reel. Just the idea that the counterbalance was a metallic “ball” rather than a wasted grasp with turned wood is so turn-of-the-century Americana. Thanks for posting that beauty.

Mike N

[Steve]

...the counterbalance was a metallic “ball” rather than a wasted grasp with turned wood...

Just to avoid any confusion:

[Mike N]

...the counterbalance was a metallic “ball” rather than a wasted grasp with turned wood...

Just to avoid any confusion:

The point was that a ball handle counterbalance is more efficient than a dual wooden grasp, since you can only grasp one handle at a time. Get it?

[Steve]

The point was...

Now that you've changed "wasted" to "dual," everyone can "get it." And I don't think "efficiency" has much to do with the design. Dual grasps are counterbalanced, and the excited angler doesn't have to grab blindly at the wrong end of the crank.

The big argument during the 19th century was over counterbalanced vs. unbalanced cranks. Counterbalances were considered by many as just additional line tanglers. Dual grasps during the 19th century were used mostly on narrow-spool single-action reels. It was later that mfrs. decided that dual grasps would be handy on baitcasters.

[Mike N]

The point was...

***Dual grasps are counterbalanced, and the excited angler doesn't have to grab blindly at the wrong end of the crank.

Hmmm, one envisages a scene reminiscent of what Washington Irving described in 1820, but I never thought to blame the single crank, ball-handle reel:

“I hooked myself instead of the fish; tangled my line in every tree; lost my bait; broke my rod; until I gave up the attempt in despair, and passed the day under the trees, reading old Izaak.”

[Steve]

And old Wash felt a lot better when he read Izaak's observation: “As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler.”

[m3040c]

Interesting about the line getting tangled in the handle second grasp. I would think that the line could also get tangled in the counterweight or ball. Maybe that is the reason for this style.