Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

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Steve
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Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Steve »

Every collector probably has wondered "How rare is it?" at some point, while staring at a reel in the collection or on some flea-market table. I suppose most of us figure a reel is rare simply because we haven't seen another example. Fair enough. But it's obvious, based on that criterion, that the word "rare" will have different levels of accuracy for a newbie vs. a superannuated codger like me.

Okay, it's mid-winter, when things slow down. Let's see if we can find out how rare some of these reels really are. I'm inviting y'all to post a pic of a reel you believe may be one-of-a-kind. Not some home-made thing, but a reel made by a professional reel-making shop or factory. Maybe you'll find out that some fellow ORCAn has two-dozen examples of the reel. Maybe not.

Let me start the ball rolling by posting this pic of a wooden side-mount with an extendable crank, made by Harry J. Smith, NYC. I've never seen another. Any others out there?

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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by reeltackle »

Good game Mr. Pie, I hope I am following the rules. Although not marked, if I had to make a guess ... F. vom Hofe or possibly E.





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Eric J
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Eric J »




I bought this Shakespeare Imperial HB at the Thoms auction in 2005. I recognized the hang tag style and writing style as being from the Shakespeare Company archives. It has a transparent green lacquer over brass finish which I believe was experimental and never put into production. I wish I could read more of the writing on the hang tag.
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Reelman2 »

I picked up this tiny Shakespeare tournament reel here on ORCA awhile back. I am told that it is not listed in any catalog. It is a 40 yd narrow spool reel with a wood arbor. It is Aluminum and German Silver. The bottom of the foot only says patented. Unlike most of the Aluminum tournament reels, the pillars on this one actually unscrew. I have a 60 yd narrow spool and the pillars are riveted to the frame. I am not sure of the value but am guessing in the $700-800 range. Tell me what you think.
Collect mostly Ky style reels; Meek, Heddon, Horton, Pflueger Redifor and Worth, etc.

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Richard Lodge
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Richard Lodge »

A nice winter challenge, Mr. Vernon. I passed this reel around at a Wine & Reels social at an ORCA convention so some of you might have seen it. All signs point to it being made by William Nightingale of England, although he used Australian 3 pence coins in this version, including the center coin, dated 1913. No click or drag, as you can see from the photo inside the reel. I know of only 2 other reels attributed to this maker, both sold at auctions in England, and one with a William Nightingale nameplate. I would love to know more about him and find out if there are more reels like this out there. I also realize Nightingale might have used someone else's reels and added the coins, but really have no idea.
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Stef Duma »

Nightingale indeed, it's a rare reel and a one off. I have three examples in my collection a friend has 6, another friend has 1, and another friend has the one with the silver name plate. They are all different and they will feature in my next book with an extensive biography of the man and his life. Born in Nottingham about 300 yards from where I was born and not far from where the Nottingham winch was invented.
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Mike N »




One knowledgeable collector fancied that this reel was made by Richardson after it acquired Talbot in 1920.
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Richard Lodge »

Amazing reel, Mike! Have you ever cast it?
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by kyreels »

I picked up this tiny Shakespeare tournament reel here on ORCA awhile back. I am told that it is not listed in any catalog.
Nice reel Bill, but I think this is a user modification and in the category of scarce. I do believe the first Shakespheare Tournament reels were listed in the Catalog, I believe Colby did a presentation on them at a National. I think they were both narrow spool (60 yd) and wide spool. We do see often that tournament casters modified them to gain any advantage they could. Here is an unmodified one in my collection.
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by kyreels »

Cool tournament reel Mike. The challenge posted by Steve on rarity considerations does open up the dozens of tournament reel shops that made 10-50 tournament reels, many of them unique in some way. Most of them were done by small machinists, if you could get any provenance to show the Richardson connection, that would certainly be interesting.

I searched my entire collection to see if I indeed had anything "rare" by Steve's criteria. I also have many tournament reels that would be in the area of 10-30 made, but the following reel by J.A. Hulme is the only one I have ever seen, and I was not able to find out any info on the company after a good search. It is also notable because it is a freespool unlimited distance reel designed for the same spiderweb nylon. It can be cast on the side or top of rod.
{note I edited this post to fix an error someone pointed out]


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Eric J
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Eric J »

Steve- Is the handle on your Smith something that can be extended quickly, as in after a fish is on? Is it intended to increase leverage, slow down the spin of the reel after the take, or both? Maybe keep your knuckle out of the way of the other knob?
Ed- that reel is a machinists masterpiece!
Reelman2- I tend to agree with Matt on it being a modification. A competent machinist could do that. Maybe even in the factory? Special ordered?
Richard- The Nightingale is a treasure!
Mike- the rod for that reel must have a special seat? It is flatter and thicker than any other reel feet I’ve seen.
Matt- you should try and find a J.W. Hulme leather reel case for your J.A. Hulme reel.
Great reels, all of them!
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Alan Baracco »

ORCANS,

This is my Langley Streamlite Model 310 with a natural anodized finish. Aluminum, of course. I know of only one other.

Photo by Nello Armstrong.

Alan

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Steve
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Steve »

Steve- Is the handle on your Smith something that can be extended quickly, as in after a fish is on?
Unfortunately, the excited angler has to depress that little pin to slide the crank in either direction. So it's about as convenient as the adjustment on EVH's 1902 drag. :bash: Although it's clearly meant to increase torque, the patent doesn't even mention that. It just points out that when the handles are equally distant from the center, they will both provide "the same power."

Steve Vernon
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"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Teal »

A pair of hand made Louis Guarino tournament casting reels made for his son Lawrence ca. 1935. Lawrence "Larry" Guarino was a boy wonder surf caster in the 1930s who fought in three wars and was shot down over Vietnam. He wrote a moving book about being at the Hotel Hanoi (along with Senator John McCain). I was fortunate enough to interview Larry before his passing and have wanted to write an article about these reels and their incredible history for some time. The only thing Louis Guarino did not make, obviously, were the handles.

Read more about Larry here: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituar ... no-6088756

Two of my favorite reels and from what I'm told Louis only made five in total, and they were all unique.






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Jason
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Jason »

I'd love to know if any more of these exist out there. I acquired this from Langs in 2019. Sloan, Chace & Co was a manufacturer of precision milling, turning and gear cutting machines in Newark NJ. My guess is that this reel was made sometime between 1896 and 1906 when they changed their name to Sloan & Chace Mfg Co. The question is, did they decide to make tackle at one point or maybe this was just a showcase piece to demonstrate the capabilities of their machines. I have acquired a couple of their catalogs and so far, I've not seen any fishing reels or any consumer products.






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Steve
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Steve »

Sloan, Chace & Co
Love that off-center foot! Jason, what's the gear ratio? (Too lazy to count teeth.)

Steve Vernon
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Book: ANTIQUE FISHING REELS, 2nd Ed.
Websites:
Antique Fishing Reels
Kopf reels
Hendrick reels

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
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Jason
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Jason »

what's the gear ratio?
It looked like a little more than 3:1 so I counted the teeth on the 4 gears:
(48/27)x(48/27)=3.160493827160494:1 and the spool turns in the same direction as the handle. I always assumed that an even number of gears=spool turns opposite of handle but since gear 2&3 are connected, they turn in the same direction and count as one directional shift. Clockwise-CounterCW-Clockwise.

Now lets figure out Ed's gear ratio. I'm guessing about 4:1?

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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Mike N »

Jason wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:05 am I'd love to know if any more of these exist out there. I acquired this from Langs in 2019. Sloan, Chace & Co was a manufacturer of precision milling, turning and gear cutting machines in Newark NJ. My guess is that this reel was made sometime between 1896 and 1906 when they changed their name to Sloan & Chace Mfg Co. The question is, did they decide to make tackle at one point or maybe this was just a showcase piece to demonstrate the capabilities of their machines. I have acquired a couple of their catalogs and so far, I've not seen any fishing reels or any consumer products.






Lots of great “one-offs” posted on this thread, but for my money we have a winner.



What’s the most important tool in building a multiplying reel? Arguably it’s a Sloan, Chase gear-cutting machine….

http://blacksmithandmachineshop.com/ima ... tter-2.jpg




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Steve
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Steve »

Before we forget the purpose of this thread:
I'd love to know if any more of these exist out there.
Here's another reel, a Wilcox reel with a pop-out clutch. Pull out the crank and you free the spool. Probably made by Slote. Any others?

Steve Vernon
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Book: ANTIQUE FISHING REELS, 2nd Ed.
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Antique Fishing Reels
Kopf reels
Hendrick reels

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by RonG »

Hey Steve and Jason, I haven't seen either of your reels before.
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by m3040c »

Rare is rare. It is scarce, near impossible to find or maybe impossible. Highly sought after by all and found by none. In my humble opinion, this is rare.



Seen in the Penn 1933 catalog. I have searched for this reel for over 20 years. I have seen none. Thousands of other Penn collectors have seen none. This is rare.
mike cass,,, if you can't collect it, it must be food
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Jason
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Jason »

Steve wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 10:29 am Before we forget the purpose of this thread:
Here are a couple more oddities. I like these early takeapart reels, some look like they could have been made by the person who made the Peter Giroud reels. This multiplying skeleton reel is another one of my favorites.





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Jason
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Jason »

This reel looks like it was found on the same shipwreck as the Antikythera mechanism. It appears to be made of solid silver. Unfortunately, it is seized up and cannot be take apart without damaging the screws. If you zoom in on the pictures, you can see it has some incredible detail in the knurling. Mr H Unger was having a bad day when he lost this reel. I would love to see an example in better condition.






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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by RonG »

Hey Jason, you always have interesting, unusual reels. Have you looked up Unger to see if there's any info on him?
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Re: Rarity is in the eye of the beholder.

Post by Steve »

Jason, re: your takeapart #3. Any resemblance to this?


And re: your H. Unger game reel, I hesitate to suggest:

Steve Vernon
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Book: ANTIQUE FISHING REELS, 2nd Ed.
Websites:
Antique Fishing Reels
Kopf reels
Hendrick reels

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
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