Collecting Antique Fly Fishing Reel

If you love fly fishing then there is a chance you appreciate the beauty of an antique fly fishing reel. Just like any other collector of obscure or extremely specialized fields you will find that it is sometimes very hard to go about your hobby.

If you are just starting to collect fishing rods and reel then get ready for an onslaught of information you will have to collect and catalogue to begin this hobby. It can be quite hard to identify when your antique fly fishing reel was made thus making it hard to value your collection. There are some tips to finding out how much your collection is worth and how to find antique fly fishing reel.

Dating

Finding out the age of your antique fly fishing reel can be difficult as it is quite rare for the manufacturing date to be printed on an antique fly fishing reel. Patent dates can be misleading as they often refer to the patent date of a particular part of the reel and not the whole reel. Often the patent date can be decades before the actual reel was manufactured.

Sometimes the model number may seem like a manufacturing date too. The best way to find the date your antique fly fishing reel was manufactured is to look through the companies old catalogues. This is not always possible but worth a shot. You may also want to start collecting old fishing magazines to help you track down the year a particular reel was made.

The ‘X’ Factor

So what makes an antique fly fishing reel a collectible? There are a number of factors that make something a collector’s item. A fifty year old reel may not be the only thing that makes it a collectible. If a reel is old but widely available and easily recognizable to other collectors then chances are that it is not valuable.

A reel that is amazing in terms of its mechanical characteristics may also yield very low collector value. It may be too new to be considered a collector’s item. The things that make a reel collectible can vary, sometimes it is up to each collector to decide what makes a reel an antique fly fishing reel.

The design of a reel may attract one collector but another may completely ignore it. Another thing that discounts collector value is the material used to make a reel. A reel made of poor material can be very old but have absolutely no value as a collector’s item.