Julius Vom Hofe reel mystery.

[cwillis85]

Evening all, I bought a box of reels from the big action site and one of the reels in the box was a Julius Vom Hofe. It only has two stamps on it, the name and patent date of Oct 8, 89 and on the foot is stamped 1/0. When I search for info on the reel I don't get much on the search engines so I was hoping maybe a wise soul on here would have more info on it. I did email a gentleman from luresandreels.com, his site was the only info I found. There is a lot there but I cannot pin point this particular reel amongst the information there.

[Bryan Young]

There is not much on Julius vom Hofe or his father Fredrick vom Hofe, but more of his younger brother Edward vom Hofe as seen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1uc37gq6Hs.

[alantani]

you know, i just bought a tumbler that uses stainless steel pins, dish soap, water and lemishine to clean up pistol brass.  i bet this reel would lookd great after a couple of hours in the tumbler!

[Shark Hunter]

That's a pretty cool find. Simple Green will work some magic on that reel too. Neat Video too Bry.

[Dominick]

I wouldn't clean it.  It looks great in its antique condition.  Dominick

[Bryan Young]

In my reel collection days, I purchased a brand new Edward vom Hofe reel about the size of a Penn 4/0 with hard rubber side plates and nickel plated everything else with an original case and price tag of $85 from the late 1800s or early 1900s.  I could not find anything like it at the time, and was very impressed of the things that Mr. vom Hofe created are still used in today's reel designs.

[cwillis85]

I found a little more out about it last night. I was able to find one old picture from the auction site, looks like this used to be nickle plated, but all the parts look to be original and correct except for that flat head in the foot. The man I emailed yesterday said these reels were sold between 1910 and the 1920's. Pretty crazy since the crank still cranks smooth and the clicker still works. Structurally the reel seems to have held up well, aside from the peeled off plating and broken wooden handle it is in good shape. I would love to see this reel clean but as a man with a two year I find it not a good idea to try to display items of value around the house, they just end up on the floor. In this case I think I am going to leave the reel be and see if I can find a way to sell or trade it for a reel I could fish. Let the next owner decide to clean it or display it with the patina.  Glad the reel choose to cross my path though, it has been fun doing the research with my wife to find out about its history. 

[Tiddlerbasher]

Have you seen these sites:
http://luresnreels.com/jvhofe.html

http://fishinghistory.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/thursday-review-reels-of-julius-vom.html

[cwillis85]

Yes I did find those, even emailed the gentleman from one of them. Lots of good info but nothing on this exact reel. I found out it is either just over or just shy of 100 years old and found out about the history of the company. I think this might be all there is for me to find on this unless I happen upon an old timer with knowledge on it. Thanks for the help.