Saw this at an antique store! Dealer told me it was a Cricket Cage. My mind started talking to me- :”Ah ha! Like for carrying live crickets or grasshoppers for bait when fishing!”. This was an all brass, very fancy one- not like the simple wire mesh and tin ones I’d seen. Must have been used by a very wealthy fisherman! The red felt inside threw me off a bit, but I figured is was so the crickets would get stuck on it so they couldn’t all jump out when the lid was opened! It was a bit pricey, but less than the prices he wanted for his old reels and lures, so I bought it as a great piece of angling miscellaneous!
The “Story” it has to tell” Seems like the Asians for centuries have thought that Crickets brought good luck! I actually knew that! What I didn’t know is that they used very ornate cages for them- like this one! Probably so old that when it was made, rocks rolled uphill! OK- so I got a genuine antique cricket cage, good enough! Then I found out these cages became popular in the US as decor items sometime in the first half of the 1900’s! OK, at least it’s old, right? Then I found out they’re STILL being made (probably in India), and imported as reproductions! People still like them and use them as interesting decorator items.
What does it have to do with fishing? NOTHING! Sometimes it's important to know what ISN'T old fishing tackle!
Oh, well- wife likes it sitting on the mantle.
As Confucious say: “All that glitters is not bait cage”! I’m probably the last person on earth to know this, right?
Best—— Joe Walkowski (ORCA)
