More news soon, I hope!
There used to be a link on the Menu Bar here that pointed to something I had called "Magazine". I had in mind a series of little articles that evolved from the items in the Museum, indeed, the first article was transcribed from an older Blog I used to have, and gave me the idea for the Museum web site (Museum Piece). As this section of the web site grew, I began thinking that "Magazine" really didn't encourage people to read the pages, so it's now renamed as "Wee Things I've Written", which describes it rather well. Because it's still part of the web site, I hope people realise the "Wee Things" have something to do with fishing tackle, although sometimes the relationship might be a little tangential! Anyway, there's a new "Wee Thing" to read, which I hope you will enjoy, all about a Kingfisher, perhaps our most colourful native bird and one I'm sure many of us have seen as we have tried to catch fish...
More news soon, I hope!
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With the work on relocating the collection over the last few weeks (see Latest News: Busy July), there hasn't been much time to bring new objects into the museum. This last week, however, there are two or three items of interest that have come this way. The first is a three-piece rod marked for Eaton & Deller of Crooked Lane in London: The rod was probably about 12' 6" when first made, the tip is a little short, but there is a combination of things that make it of interest. Firstly the fittings are of nickel-silver rather than brass or plated brass, suggesting it was a high-quality rod when new, a conclusion supported by the many and wide intermediate wraps. It has drop rings that suggest a date of manufacture before 1880 but the most exciting aspect is the mortised construction of the rod grasp. It is a method more often seen in American made rods, but we know that Foster's of Ashbourne, and Hardy's also went on to offer mortised rods in their catalogues. I plan to look a little more closely at this rod, and other rods in the collection in the near future. The other item, or items, fall into the accessories category... These "Cofton" cast carriers are not uncommon. They look stunning, made by Milward's with the "Iron Arm" trademark but what is less often seen is the patent cast carriers that were supplied with the box. These should be familiar to most anglers as the essential idea has been repeated many times, some of you may remember the promotional "Famous Grouse" cast carriers that were around for a while. A closer look at the patent document is interesting though...
If you read the document closely you will see that the patent application was shared. Milward's appear alongside a John Francis Pollock, described as an artist living at an address in Dundee in Scotland. In the local Trade Directories he is described as a "decorative artist" and there is one painting attributed to him held in the collection of Hawick Museum, other than that little else is known of his work, though living on the Tay, it may well be safe to assume he did a bit of fishing! As for the "Cofton" connection, as far as I can see, it was actually a district of Redditch and it may have been the intention to issue other items with "Cofton" as a brand name, though I'm not aware of any at present.
So there we are, it is amazing just where an old item of fishing tackle will take you sometimes! One of my personal fascinations is the Moscrop Manchester reel, and a couple of years ago I wrote a page for the web site about the reel and its origins. You can read the latest edit HERE. I say "latest edit" because I got it wrong...
I was aware of two early Patents taken out by John Moscrop, one relating to a new method of construction for reels, the second for a device to slow the reel. What I could never understand was why the reel we know seemed to have no relationship with these patents, other than the cage and drum construction. Now I know.. Moscrop took out a third Patent in 1891 that covers the check, brake and distinctive handle of the reel that carries his name. THIS is the reel as manufactured, and I missed it completely!! still stand by my assertion that the Moscrop reel is the first truly modern reel, and that the original models were made by a non-reel-making company, though part of that argument was based on the distinctive handle, - this can no longer apply as it was subject to the patent. My thanks to John Stevenson at Thomas Turner who mentioned the patent in his excellent Blog. If you have been following these pages you will know that I have been busy relocating the items that feature in WVFFM, along with the many others that as yet don't, to a new home. Well I'm more than pleased to say the process is now complete. This is a sort of "before" picture, a corner of my study as it was with a heap of rods in a basket and all manner of stuff piled around... ...and this is how things look now, in a purpose built facility, with rods displayed, reels in cabinets and everything accessible. It is going to make a huge difference to be able to access stuff easily, to compare items and hopefully include more on the web site, so, keep watching!
Yes, June was a busy month, so I'll do my best to fill you in on what is happening at WVFFM. The new building is coming on nicely, with cabinets in place for the reels which have now been arranged in order of manufacturer - plan is to add captions when all the rest of the organising is done. Two thirds of the rod displays are up, with rods "stored" in some of them waiting to be better organised, - probably by manufacturer too. Waiting for a joiner to come in this week to cut sheet materials to size. I will post pictures as soon as the place looks decent. At the moment it looks like an old-fashioned butcher's shop, there's so much sawdust on the floor!
Other news For those who read this column regularly, you may remember the Ogden/Ogden & Scotford/Ogden Smith pages I put up a few weeks ago. Turns out I wasn't the first to uncover the story. Andrew Herd and John Austin actually wrote about it in Waterlog magazine a few years ago. Andrew writes for Medlar Press and is the author of a number of helpful books on the history of fishing including the History of Fly Fishing featured in the Books section of this web site. He is also responsible for the Fishing Museum Online. WVFFM has also made a few acquisitions in the last month, notably rods by Garden of Aberdeen and a Milward spinning rod. Most interesting was an 11' two-piece for Scottish style Loch fishing. These will appear on the web site in due time. More on the developments soon. News From The Front Line......maybe "construction site" would be a better term. Missed last month's news because WVFFM, at least, the part of it that is not "Virtual", is moving. Every item you see on the web site is actually here, my own collection of vintage fishing items. Over the years this has grown from a few reels displayed on bits of broom-handle across some shelving, to almost 500 items. Now there 's a good Scots word for the resulting combination of lack of space, hasty organisation and lost labels and the word is "guddle". Well the "guddle" is gradually being re-organised in a purpose-built location where I can spread stuff out and actually get to work with it better. Even small things like comparing the reel seats on a range of rods have been impossible and all this is currently changing. Once the sawdust is swept up, the cabinets finished and everything sorted out, it will be a lot better. More news as things progress. Meantime, get out there and do some fishing! Tight lines for those who do!
A lot of our news lately has been about delving into the far past and taking a more academic view of Vintage Tackle but earlier this month Bryan Henry, from Winnipeg, Manitoba got in touch with something that is entirely practical. Bryan has a Grice & Young Jecta De luxe. This is the reel with the drag that could stop a hippo, patented by Gurney Grice and first used on the Sea Jecta. If you are not familiar with Grice & Young reels, you can read more here. Like many older reels, Bryan's was set up for right-hand wind. The fact that the line guard could be moved suggested to Bryan that it could be changed to a left-hand wind, - here's how he did it: I'd like to thank Bryan for getting in touch and passing on his great photos and for reminding me of the practical side of WVFFM!
March was a busy month here at WVFFM, - starting with the Scottish Fly Fair at the beginning of the month. We attended the first of these events last year, and again the show was held at the Stirling Court Hotel on the campus of the University of Stirling. Last year we showed timelines of both rods and reels, this year we included many of the same rods shown last year, but also some of the material from the story of the Ogden rod acquired last year. The entire saga can be read here, along with the subsequent tale of Ogden and Scotford and the early years of Ogden Smiths Ltd. The James Ogden rod alongside a later marked Ogden rod that we now know to have been made by his nephew. We hope to be able to add to this story in the coming months and, as usual, anything important will appear here on the News page.
Tight lines for the new season to all our visitors! ...because I've been up in the loft getting all the stands together for The Scottish Fly Fair.
You may remember we took part last year at the fair, which is held at the Stirling Court hotel, in the grounds of Stirling University. It was a great opportunity to bring WVFFM into the real world and we will be doing the same this year. The Fair is on the weekend of 9th-10th March and you can find out more HERE. Hope to see you there!!! When I was doing the research for the Hardy-Marston "Blagdon" Rod I came across an excellent book by Geoffrey Bucknall charting the story of Marston's "Fishing Gazette". It was while reading this book that something caught my eye, but I didn't note it at the time, something about James Ogden's "Invicta". It's been nagging at me ever since, so I finally found the quote. It has been a long held belief that the "Invicta" was invented by James Ogden and included in his 1879 book, "Ogden on Fly Tying". However, the Fishing Gazette describes the fly as being "new" in 1902. A further careful reading of Ogden's book revealed no mention of the "Invicta" and in fact the fly was devised and brought to market by his nephew, also James Ogden who had inherited his Uncle's shop in Cheltenham. You can read more on the Ogden's Legacy page linked in the previous post.
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April 2023
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