Hardy St. George (Mk I) 3-3/8" 1917-21

[Ron Mc]

I got this reel on Easter Sunday, sole bidder, way under the radar on ebay.

The reel is rare and is not even acknowledged in Graham Turner's book - he lists the first model St. George as only being available in 3-3/4"

[Chum Angler]

Ron -

I hope this isn't looked at as hijacking your thread, but I thought it might be a benefit to add some early St George History to your post.


DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be an expect on Hardy’s, and I have only even been interested in vintage reels for a few years, but I have done a lot of research on early St George models trying to piece together the pedigree of an early 3 ¾ inch that I owned. I am pretty confident in the accuracy of the comments below but what I’ve learned with anything Hardy’s is that about the time you think you are certain about a feature, a reel will show up that completely goes against the norm but appears to be unaltered.


A St George history 101:

The model St George was first cataloged in 1911 and had the “new” improved check that was based on the Patent 24245 applied for Oct 19th, 1910, though it is usually referred to as the “1912” check especially when seen in the Perfects. I don't have Turner's book, but the first model St George was only available in the 3 ¾ size and many did not include the model name “St. George” in teh stamping. They had a strapped-over tension regulator, a ported drum core, and the spool was held in place by a brass locking nut versus the latch release that is seen on all later St George reels (starting in about 1913).

There are MANY variations of the first check and I’ve seen reels with early first model checks that did not have ported drum cores or locking nuts, and other reels that had more refined “later” variations of the check but had the locking nut and ported core. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to make sense of it and about all that I am certain of is that there were MANY modifications going on circa 1910-1913 and that many reels exist with some early and other late features. It comes down to the the reels having the locking nut being referred to as "first model" regardless of what other first model features they have. And, some referrences demonstrate that there are actually 2 or 3 variations of the locking nut so the idea of calling a reel a first, second, third model etc of St George can get pretty muddled.

As an example, the circa 1913 St George that I owned until recently (see photos below) had the earliest variation on the first model check that I have seen, had a ported drum core, the regulator strap was recessed into the frame. All of these features are typically associated with the very early first model reels, but my reel had a latch release for the spool versus the locking nut so it likely dated circa 1913 as one of the first reels with the latch cover and had the stamping on the spool which is rarely seen.









Regarding your new, extremely beautiful reel….….the 3 3/8th inch St George was first cataloged in 1913 and also had a strapped-over tension regulator and a variation of what is normally called the 1912 check. I have only seen good photos of one such reel (see below) and it did not have a ported drum core but I can not say with any certainty whether or not a ported core model was ever made in the 3 3/8th inch version?







Your reel, which based on our prior conversations you know I think is wonderful, is most likely from about 1917 which was the first year the MkI reels were cataloged. The reason I think your reel was early in the Mk I era is based on the thinness of the bezel. This is a feature that is seen on the earlier pre-Mk I reels also. I have seen one other Mk I 3 3/8th inch St George that had the thicker bezel that is normally seen on later reels (Mk II) and I have never seen (though that doesn’t mean they don’t exist) a Mk II reel with the narrow bezel.

I don’t think your comment of the reel being rare is any stretch at all. I have seen many more examples of the earlier 3 ¾ inch reels with the 1912 check than 3 3/8th inch models with the Mk I check. Oh, and just to keep you looking for that next “Holy Grail”, I have seen one 3 inch St George that sported two rows of spool holes and had a Mk I check and grey agate like yours. That would be a nice little sibling for you to add

Hopefully this information is of interest.

Mark B
aka turtledoc

[Ron Mc]

thanks, that's great - Turner states exactly what I wrote. I'll edit my posts accordingly.

and yes, I checking Dunkeld today, and he agrees with your dates, though he doesn't show a large-arbor example in the 3-3/8" reel.

How about the 3" - does it have a large or standard arbor?

[Chum Angler]

Ron -

The inch version was a deep drum and had a frame repair next to the regulator. It was still a stuning little reel.

Here are the photos I saved from when it sold in 2006:







Mark B
aka turtledoc

[Russ]

Very nice reel Ron congrats to you. Here's a picture of a 3'' I have that I believe is dated about 1917 also. Both spools have the standard arbor like the one posted by Mark. Cheers Russ

[Ron Mc]

thanks for showing that Russ, it's a beauty.