One of the most decorative of all the Hardy baits are the Halcyon & Improved Halcyon lures. They came in many shapes and sizes, all peacock hearl and silk with a finned style head. I have seen them with single, double and treble hook rigs. BUT did you know in 1888 they catalogued a gold […]
Category Archives: Thomas Turner blog
17
Sep
Sep
Many years ago, (approx. 25-30) I travelled around the Midlands tackle shops on the hunt for second-hand vintage tackle. Leaving leaflets in every fishing shop, occasionally I would get a call; some good, some not so. However, one day I visited a long established shop in central Birmingham. The father of the owner used to […]
14
Sep
Sep
When PD Malloch of Perth, Scotland, patented his side-caster in 1884, he changed the thinking in terms of casting, spinning and worming. Most of us will have seen many variations on these reels in some form; brass, alloy, brass & alloy, single wind, geared and a few odd ball variants to boot. However not everyone could afford […]
13
Sep
Sep
We have just been contacted by Lasse Merkesda, of the Nordisk Fishing Tackle Shop in Oslo, Norway where a customer had brought in an old wooden reel to investigate its history. This is a Nottingham pattern English wood and brass starback reel. Probably made by either Slater of Newark or Heatons of Birmingham and dates c […]
12
Sep
Sep
You never see one, then ten come along together! That’s the story of these weird reels we started writing about a few weeks ago. This particular reel I believe is engineer or scratch built. A very clever and imaginative person has devised this one, the twisting foot assembly I’m sure was born from an old nursery […]
11
Sep
Sep
That’s right vintage tackle lovers, this is in fact a Chippindale reel, not a Chippendale chair we are talking about here. The beautiful all-brass threadline spinning reel below is based on the original Model 1 Chippindale Patent 1909 reel – with differences! The original Chippindale reel as seen in this book extract below, was a […]
10
Sep
Sep
When I wrote the first article on the Allcock-Stanley threadline reel a couple of weeks ago I thought I had seen them all – wrong! In a collection we are currently selling, these two ‘Stanley-esque’ threadline fishing reels turned up. Similar in size and principle to the original Stanley reels, they are amazing to look at and […]
06
Sep
Sep
The sad demise of an early Hardy Silex reel due to poor storage. This reel dating from c. 1900 would have had a value of around £300 if all was good with it. However years of water damage through being stored wet has reduced its value to only about £30. That’s a real (reel!?) shame as […]
05
Sep
Sep
I’ve never seen one before, nor have most of the top collectors so we can say it is rare! Sims Improved Casting Reel, Newcastle on Tyne This came in with some other weird and wonderful reels last week and what a little beauty it is. It is 3” diameter and fitted with a spring-loaded, twisting […]
03
Sep
Sep
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 […]