Historical, Early, "North - South" Fishing Reel

[RonG]

Thanks for the photos Jason. I really like your Crook reel with the sliding oil caps. Between you and Steve, I'm now convinced David's reel is a Crook reel. I have a couple reels similar to your Crook reel that are on my "F. vom Hofe" page on my website. Both have ivory knobs and look identical except for their size. One is marked "F. vom Hofe" and the other is unmarked with the maker's name and has only the owner's name engraved. Looks like Crook and F. vom Hofe used the same brass spool journal bearing and sliding oil caps. So back to Steve's question, did Crook make the first F. vom Hofe reels before they added the Julius vom Hofe patented bridge. And yes, your two tiered sliding bearing cap reel is still a mystery to me.