Arthur Allan Glasgow Spinet Fishing Reel

Arthur Allan Limited of 3 West Nile Street, Glasgow were established c. 1850 and were fishing tackle and gun makers.

They claimed to have the largest stock of fishing tackle and guns in Scotland at the turn of the century. They were retailers and repair specialists, having skilled workmen on the premises full-time for the gun market.

My contact with Allan came in the 1960s’ when as a lad, I used to hop on the bus to Glasgow once a month to drool over all the new tackle I couldn’t afford. Walking from Caffaro Brothers at the top of town down to Arthur Allan at the bottom was quite a hike. I attached no importance to Allan as a maker of course at that time; it was all about tackle to use, not collect.

Many years on, I realise the importance of his Patent design in bringing a front-facing spinning reel to the Scottish anglers when Illingworth and AE Rudge of Redditch were suppling the masses from England. The Patent was sealed on October 28th1926.

Allan’s Patent text notes that it relates to patent 18723/10 which is Illingworth’s Patent for his No. 2 reel some 18 years earlier, how slow tackle developed in the early days.

The Spinet may even have been produced by Rudge/ Illingworth as it bears many similarities to both the Illingworth, (Rudge’s friend) and Helical reels in principle. The reels were produced in trout & salmon sizes, the salmon being rarer.

This reel was a proud part of my collection some 25 years ago and low and behold, we at Thos. Turner have the opportunity to sell it once again.

The reel is unusual in that the gears are fully covered with a metal casing and matched to the spool flier.

This was a production feature of some of the Illingworth reels, especially the N0. 3 and they called it “fully covered guns” as line constantly became trapped in the exposed gears.

The box is unusual too and together they make a good story of a Scottish/English partnership from 100 years ago.

Standard Spinet
Standard Spinet reel showing the exposed gears that would catch the line before the casing was added.

Do you have any vintage or classic modern fishing tackle to sell?

We are always interested in purchasing high quality vintage or modern tackle items. If you have a collection or an individual item to sell please get in touch. You can use our contact form, or email me at john@thomasturner.comPlease include some good clear images, watch our helpful video for some advice on that. We will get right back to you by phone or email.