Hello, Ladies and Gents, another one from a thrift store. This one is super cool... It's tiny and I mean really tiny. It's only 2 inches tall. Made out of brass. The foot is stamped HENDRYX and pat.mar.21.1876 and right below pat.july.10.1888 On the other side there is a stamp 40. A couple of questions. Is it really that old and what the heck do you suppose to catch with this miniature thing? This has got to be the craziest and neatest reel I've ever seen. Even my wife said "Oh, it's so cute, I can't stand it"... Thanks
Quote from: morlock on Today at 12:53:26 AMHello, Ladies and Gents, another one from a thrift store. This one is super cool... It's tiny and I mean really tiny. It's only 2 inches tall. Made out of brass. The foot is stamped HENDRYX and pat.mar.21.1876 and right below pat.july.10.1888 On the other side there is a stamp 40. A couple of questions. Is it really that old and what the heck do you suppose to catch with this miniature thing? This has got to be the craziest and neatest reel I've ever seen. Even my wife said "Oh, it's so cute, I can't stand it"... Thanks
Hendryx invented the curved reel foot. If there's a line under the "40" on the foot it's post 1917 no line it's pre 1917.
If it still has the white handle knob... It's ivory.
Cool little reels. The 40 was the smallest size they made.
Thanks, Jason. No line under the 40, the handle looks like dark brown bakelite. I took it apart and everything looks like it's there. It is bone dry though. Very simple reel with only 2 gears. Were those originally plated or came just like this? I have $3.75 in it, hopefully didn't pay too much... ;D
like this one?
That's a great looking reel, Alan! I gather it has an ivory handle, very nice. It looks to be nickel-plated, mine is a pure brass without any trace or plating of any kind.
I THINK they came with "german silver" plating (a nickel alloy that doesn't contain any actual silver). Odds are it used to be plated. Someone may have gotten creative or aggressive about a past cleaning (soaked in an acid or something, or it just got scrubbed off).
So when do we get to see pics of YOURS?
I have it apart right now. It was pretty filthy on the inside. Work in progress. Amazingly none of the screws are stripped and the handle while worn smooth has no cracks. It has such a lovely patina. The crank screw has an insanely thin slot, reminds me of the screws on a Brownings Auto 5 shotgun, I had to grind my own bits for that one, they surely came in handy working on this reel...