Ike Walton Club

Started by The Great Maudu, January 10, 2018, 01:22:41 PM

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The Great Maudu

Here is a great Ocean City surf reel. Stamped Ike Walton Club on the bottom of the Reel foot along with "300 YARDS". It has a quick take apart feature, free spool, click button and star drag. It's solid, heavy German silver. A truly high quality reel that I don't see too often.

happyhooker


Maxed Out


I've had a handful, but none this nice. I doubt you could get any more factory fresh than this beauty

  Ted
We Must Never Forget Our Veterans....God Bless Them All !!

Tightlines667

Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

thorhammer


Benni3

Nice ocean city ,,,,any info on the ike walton club

The Great Maudu

Here's what Mike C had to say:
"Great reel Mike.Very expensive for its day. Be careful when you take it apart. The trim rings are welded to the stand. The only way to complely break it down is to break it. The cross bars are held in place like hollow rivets. It was not built to take down the frame."
If he sees this post he could add more. It's the best made OC Reel I've seen.

Captain64-200

Built to last indeed . This one seems flawless ! 
Fred from Biarritz ,

The Great Maudu

#8
From what little I know they made these in the 300 yard version which is pictured and a 250. There were also minor variations over the course of its production.

sdlehr

That's a beauty, Mike! I'm looking for one of those for my collection!
Sid Lehr
Veterinarian, fishing enthusiast, custom rod builder, reel collector

Tightlines667

#10
These are great reels!

I have a Dover Club, and 3 Ike Walton's...

-Dover Club, No?, ca.1922-32, 250ydIn bottom photo
-Ike Walton, No.1060?, ca. 1932-40, Brown plates/small star wheel, earliest version?, 250ydIn bottom photo
-Ike Walton, No.1070? ca. 1932-40, black plates/small star wheel, next version?, 300yd
-Mike's transition reel with the mid-sized star is pictured below,
Third photo

-Ike Walton, No.1060?, ca.1932-40, black plates/large star wheel, later version?, 250ydMike's in third photo, mine in bottom photo

I lost some of my OC reel pics to the photobucket monster, but the post is here....

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=13054.15

I believe both the Dover Club and the Ike Walton came in 250&300yd sizes.  

The OC reel photos website...

http://www.oceancityreelphotos.com/saltwater-reels.html

Is a great source of info on these models, and it has quiet a few photos of these reels.  One shows a page from a 1929 Belknap Hardware Catalog that lists the Dover Club as a model # OC100. Mike's catalog excerpt First photo belowlists the Ike Walton 1060 as a 250 yard reel, and the 1070 as a 300 yard reel.  

I think there were at least 4 versions of the Ike Walton.  I believe the earliest were brown plates with a small star wheel, then black plates with a small star wheel, then there was the difficult to find, brown plate mid-sized star wheel transition reel (actually I am not sure of this one's production period), then the full sized star in black plates (like yours).  

I think Mike, and tue OC reel photos website state that pre-OC the reel was made by Moskowitz and Herbach.Mike's double handled/double levered/starless M&H reel is in the second photo below
Hopefully he can correct me if I am wrong here?

Quality reels that are fun to collect, since they were available in many variations, and have a rich history.

I hope Mike doesn't mind I posted up some of his pics?

John
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

oc1

Man, that's a nice looking reel.  I wonder if the brown plates were originally brown or if they are oxidized black hard rubber that needs some elbow grease to bring them back.
-steve

The Great Maudu

If you look very closely, starting just to the right of the top post screw, on the tail plate you can make out three beautifully engraved initials. They read RLC and you can't see it in the photo but there is also a number 12 engraved by the same hand as well. This engraving is so fine and so delicate it's imperceptible to a casual eye. Usually, I don't buy reels that have been personalized but when it's done to this level of quality I think it adds to the character of the Reel.

Penn Chronology

#13
No problem using my pictures. I posted them on Facebook, I do not think there could be any more public a place. Nice of you to have the consideration.

The Ikes are one of those models that keep evolving for a collector piece. Every time you think you have all the answers about them another variation comes out of the woodwork. I believe the side plates are Bakelite, not hard rubber. I am not much of a color classifying guy. Maybe that's because I am color blind. I usually look for build differences. If a color is radically changed I make note of it but different shades of black and brown go right by me in terms of generational decisions about a particular model.

The early Ike Walton reels cannot be considered without also considering the Dover Club. They were very different internally but did share the welded frame and side plates. The Dover Club came first. I believe. The earliest one I have seen was in a Moskowitz and Herbach Catalog. The two gentlemen go back into the late 1800's in the fishing tackle trade, so, much research could be done on them alone. I have done enough research about them to bring me into the Ocean City brand. Ocean City is nothing like Penn concerning its origins. Ocean City was created by Moskowitz and Herbach by merging with many companies. That is why their brand will drive you crazy to follow. They were very diversified in their products offerings. In my opinion, that is one of the reason they eventually sold, but, that is another story.

The first scan here is a scan from a 1922 catalog highlighting the Dover Club. The side plates on this reel are advertised as "Condensite" material. I do not believe that is hard rubber because they say the handle knobs are hard rubber in this same catalog showing. Condensite may be an old way of saying Composite or Bakelite.

The second scan in taken from the Folsom Arms catalog of 1924. On this page you can see both the Dover Club model and under it, the very early Ike Walton Model. Notice the side plate release of the early Ike Walton Model is the same lever used on the Dover Club. Sorry for the quality of the scan, it is a copy of a copy of a copy.

When you get back into this early 1920's Ocean City history you have to bounce from one company to another to get some historical flow of how the models evolved. The biggest difference between the Dover Club and the Ike Walton reels was there drag system. The Ike Walton reel used an Edward vom Hofe drag while the Dover Club use a cranky Conical clutch for a drag, hence the small drag wheel, the adjustments were slight. It is very interesting, but its performance compared to the Ike Walton doomed the Dover Club model.

The last scan is the fully evolved Ike Walton reel similar to yours. That scan is taken from the 1931 Ocean City catalog.

Rivverrat

The work on this reel is fantastic. That is a really nice reel. First I believe I've seen of them. Thanks for sharing this... Jeff