Fine example of a "found-object" as Modern Art. 1930's Northern Wisconsin ice fishing tip-up. Fabulous sculptural appeal and 100% original paint. We have several of these in stock and this is by far the coolest one. Think of it has a hillbilly Alexander Calder mobile. Ready to hang or mount on a stand for 3-D effect.

 Available for purchase here

Vintage Muskie Reel from northern Wisconsin. Pflueger "Rocket" Model 1355. Star drag, anti-reverse ca.1950's.

Picked this up today from an old timer. He had a blue velvet bag in his hand when he came in. This reel has been in that bag for almost 50 years. I didn't clean it or polish it at all, this is how I got it. It's not a rare reel at all but I wanted to show you how clean it is. This reel on a vintage St. Croix rod with a big old bucktail would catch you a muskie today. You can buy this reel here

1946 advertising calendar for Anderson & Ogg, Quality Groceries and Meats, Duluth Minnesota.

Just picked this up today and boy is it in nice shape. Never used, the whole year 1946 is intact. Great illustrative sporting art too. Minnesota ephemera. You can buy it here

A.F. Meisselbach Mfg. Co. "Tripart" 80 yard casting reel #580

A good friend of mine here in Wausau stopped by yesterday and gave me an old reel he had just cleaned up. I will cherish it and thought I would tell you about it. It was made in 1910 by A.F. Meisselbach & Co. in New Jersey.

The best quick research site for old reels is www.fishingreelresearch.org . Here is their brief history of Meisselbach reels.

A. F. Meisselbach, the son of German immigrants, designed his first fishing reel in 1885. At the tender age of 20 he received a patent on this reel and then convinced  A.G. Spalding & Bros. to sell the reel for him. This reel was a simple single action reel, that we call the Amateur. Demand was brisk, and "Gus" soon convinced his brother, William, to go into the business with him and their Newark, NJ garage was soon humming with machine work. In 1888 they expanded their line rapidly and moved into a larger machine shop. That year they added the Expert Reel, the Universal Rod Holder and their famous line of Spring Bow nets.

  In 1896 more innovative reels were added to their inventory, with the Allright and the raised pillar Featherlight fly reels. At this time they also moved into a new three story factory. Sales boomed and soon A.F. Meisselbach & Bro. was one of the largest manufacturers of fishing reels in the country. However, the boom was yet to come. From the beginning, their products were of the finest quality, but very inexpensive. They were all aimed toward the average working man.

  In the early 1900s, the Meisselbach brothers patented their most famous product, the Takapart reel and shortly thereafter its smaller brother, the Tripart reel. The initial Takaparts were called "Take-Apart" and were not the familiar tube frame reel that we usually think of when talking about Takaparts or Triparts.

   A.F. Meisselbach & Brother finally incorporated in the state of New Jersey in 1906. Until this date they had not stamped their own name on any of the reels or accessories that they were selling. Many of the reels were stamped with model names or patent dates and these are the only identifying marks left to identify your early reels.  Sales boomed from 1900 to 1917. There were over 75 employees in their factory and their products were sold all over the U.S. and Europe. They were also in the general machining business and were one of the largest manufacturers of phonograph parts in the east.

   In 1917, the A.F. Meisselbach & Bro. Corporation was sold to the Otto Heineman Phonograph Supply Co. of New York City. Heineman changed the name to A.F. Meisselbach Mfg. Co. and moved the company headquarters to NYC. Gus and William retired to the NJ coast and spent their time
surf fishing. William died in 1919, and Gus died in 1927 at 61 years of age.  Heineman trimmed the Meisselbach reel line to the basic models and in 1921 the reel tooling and production was moved to another factory in Elyria, Ohio. In 1925 the parent company name was changed to General Industries. Some collectible reels came from Ohio, most notably the Okeh series. However, the great depression of the 1930s brought about a lowering of quality and the great old reels of A.F. Meisselbach & Bro. disappeared from the lineup one by one. With the advent of World War II, General Industries turned their production to war materials and all fishing reel production was stopped in 1941 and was not resumed after the war. This was the end of the Meisselbach name on quality fishing tackle. It was also the end of the name Meisselbach in the U.S. since Gus, married late in life, had no children. William was a life-long bachelor, so there were no descendants left to carry on the name.

[White, Phil.  2005.  “Meisselbach & Meisselbach-Catucci Fishing Reels – Their History and Values.“ Lakeshore Press, Nampa, Idaho]
Research and pictures provided by Roger Schulz with permission of the author.

Pflueger No. 4128 "Captain" Trolling Reel

Just got this in today and wanted to share it with you.

First, a brief history of the Pflueger Company. 

Founded in 1881 in Akron, Ohio, E. F. Pflueger’s Enterprise Manufacturing Company was not the first company to manufacture a fishing reel—that honor goes to the Meek Brothers, whose Kentucky reels predate 1840. But Pflueger was the first major commercial tackle company—its 1900 catalog, produced two years before James Heddon hung out his shingle to sell handmade wooden fishing lures, featured 126 pages of "Fish Bait and Anglers Specialties."

Pflueger’s company, which was taken over by his son and renamed E. A. Pflueger Company in 1906, was the first to commercially produce wooden fishing lures. In 1883, the elder Pflueger patented a luminous lure paint designed for night fisherman. A lure from that period, the Luminous Flying Helgramite, had wings and feathers, but was only made for about a year, making it a highly collectible antique fishing lure.
In the 1890s, Pflueger produced rubber decoys, the rubber Muskallonge Minnow (it had three single hooks and metal fins), and, in 1899, the Trory Minnow, which had three treble hooks, propellers at its head and tail, and yellow glass eyes.
Throughout the early part of the 20th century, Pflueger produced numerous minnows and bugs, some weighted, some designed to float. But the competition from Heddon and others proved too much for the company. Fortunately, lures were not its only source of revenue. Indeed, Pflueger reels would keep the company independent until well after the middle of the century.
The product that secured Pflueger’s reputation for reliability and dependable action while casting was the Baitcasting Reel, introduced in 1916. The brand for this new line of fishing reels was Four Brothers, who were E. A., Joseph, George, and Charles. Models included the Delite fly reel, in 40-, 60-, 80-, and 100-yard sizes. The reels’ plates were made of hard rubber and covered with either polished nickel or satin gun metal. Also available in that introductory year was a double-multiplying casting reel called the Medina, so named for the county west of Akron.
By 1924, Pflueger had largely dropped the Four Brothers name in favor of the model names themselves. The Regal, Elinor, and Pastime reels were still marketed as Four Brothers reels, but the Delite reel was now sold on its own. So were the Eclipse and Mohawk reels, which were salt-water models. Two other smaller salt-water reels, Sumco and Beacon, were introduced in 1927, and the Castwell came along in 1931 (it was introduced as the Comrade but that dull name was quickly changed).
Other antique and vintage Pflueger fishing reels sought by collectors include the Skilcast ("Blister Proof" is the guarantee on the side of the box), the Supreme, and an Orvis-like fly reel called Taxie. In the 1930s, Pflueger all but discontinued its line of lures, which is what helps make those lures so rare today. In 1954, Pflueger introduced its first spinning reel, and in 1966 the company was sold to Shakespeare. Today, reels, rods, and combos bearing the Pflueger name continue to be manufactured in South Carolina.

Courtesy Collectors Weekly 

The No. 4128 "Captain" is a 4 3/4" diameter spool, single action trolling reel with thumb stop. This one is full of braided copper line. These would have been mounted on a heavy duty, boat-rod style fishing pole. Montague was a very popular rod for this use. It would be used for Lake Trout or Salmon on the Great Lakes. I would grade condition as Fine on this reel. It includes original, correct box and can be purchased here

Daileys Baits 1117 W. 8th St., Muncie, Indiana. Folk art box a guy used to deliver worms and crickets in.. Home delivery.

Just posted this in our Etsy Shop and thought I would show it here too. I love folk art and I love old fishing related items so I think this box is pretty cool. Added bonus is that it is from Indiana. Home delivery of night crawlers, leeches, crickets, red worms or soft craws. Cool idea. Here's the delivery mans carrier.

It is 12" x 12" x 7 1/2" with a wire bail handle. Made out of 1/4" plywood. Gray porch paint with black lettering. "Daileys" is on the other three sides. What a fun display item. It is available here

Amazing pair of vintage perch colored downrigger weights.

Usually when you find an old downrigger weight it has no paint left and you only find one. That makes these really special. As with everything look at these from a sculptural/folk art point of view.

Perch-colored in original paint, Great Lakes fished down rigger 10 lb. fishing weights measuring at 9 1/4 " long , approximately 4" from belly to top of dorsal fin and 3 1/2" across the pectoral fins.

They are available for sale here

 #folkart #fishing #lures