Vintage Fishing Reels

Moving away from modern fishing rods and reels, techniques and innovations, and concentrating on vintage fishing reels, we can summarize their history very briefly in this way.

From the earliest 12th century chinese fishing reel reproduction in a drawing, to the wooden spools of the 17th century in Europe, the actual beginning of the fishing reel was when the object transformed from simple storage device to a casting device probably in the UK in the early 1800s. From then on, American jewelers and craftmen such as George Snyman - who became probably the most famous reel maker of his age - Meek, Milam, Sage, Hardman and Gayle improved the device. It is during this period and probably in the UK firstly that the multiplying reel was invented: a reel that rewinds more line by each simple turn of the handle.

The next jump in reel technology was probably achieved in the 1860s in the UK and USA by people like Edward von Hofen, Hardy, Slater and Heaton and later, in the 1950s by French Léon Carpano and Charles Pons who founded the famous Brand . Mitchell.

Tip!

Personally, I learned that for collectors a major threshold is represented by the second World War, the earliest 1800s reels being practically a world apart for their rarity and prices.

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Fishing reels and fishing equipment around or before the second War World (say before the 50s) were sturdy, well made and expensive because very few people could afford fishing with "modern" equipment. The market was still very small and most the fishing reels were as expensive as say, a bicycle (e.g a good reel in 1912 would cost you $10 to $60, and a workman monthly salary would be about $100!)

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