Nevison Baits update

Hi, I'm back after a few weeks off. Actually, what initiated this new listing is the fact that I received a comment from Tracy, about an earlier blog on the Nevison Minnow. Have a look in the archive if you like, here in my Vintage British Fishing Lures blog. Basically I am being asked for more information about the Nevison Prawn, rather than Minnow.

Well, before a couple of weeks ago I would have had no more info to provide. However, I went to a big game fair down at Blenheim Palace recently, and whilst there was fortunate enough to buy a 1939 Allcocks catalogue. Therein the following information lay.

Printed above is a plate from the book, where you can indeed see the prawn (and also minnows and trout and golden sprat). Don't know if you can read the text above, it is a bit small, but Allcocks don't actually say that they invented the Nevison,but they do say that they market and manufacture it.

It would also appear that 1939 was the first year that these were marketed by Allcocks(after 12 months of testing and development). So maybe any traceable, earlier versions came from the actual inventor of the lure?

The real fish(or prawn), when caught was killed and preserved by a 'special process'. The fish is then coated in clear cellulose, which forms an everlasting and unbreakable coating!

Although the minnows retain their original appearance, apparently back in 1939 it was illegal to keep and kill small trout, so the trout Nevisons were actually minnows that had been hand painted to look like trout.

The text doesn't mention too much about prawns, apart from the fact that they are indistinguishable from natural specimens.

Also,Tracy,I think you can see on the print, that hole that you currently have in the prawn is where the wire for the swivel and hook was threaded through.

Two other things of interest from this catalogue, were that the following year Allcocks were hoping to extend the list of Nevison baits to include silver sprats,gudgeon,sand eels and frogs! That I would like to see. Wonder if a little thing like WWII got in the way though?

The other interesting thing was that Allcocks obviously considered these things so attractive, that you could buy a range of Nevison brooches and hat ornaments as well. Only trout appear to be available as jewellery though. If I met a woman wearing a Nevison brooch I would be well impressed. Anybody got one or seen one?(brooch I mean not woman).

OK ,that's all I can provide on what proved to be quite an entertaining, little topic in the world of Antique Fishing lures. If anybody else has any extra information please send it in. Sorry dont know why the layout is all scrunched up on this blog. Have I run out of space?

Thanks for asking Tracy, bye til next time.

The Hardy Crocodile Spinner

Hello, today I am featuring one of a group of antique fishing lures that were designed for assisting the angler in spinning real fish(dead ones). There were several designs of these apparatus, some more complex than others. As usual Hardy's came out with a device that was more complete than most. They called it the Crocodile Spinner.

Actually there were several different models,each of a slightly different pattern, as can be seen in my illustrations.

The general idea was that the metal lure consisted of a central spike, or needle, to which a swivel was attached. Below the swivel was attached a set of vanes, or fins, which were free moving, such that they could spin when being pulled through the water. There was then a self securing clasp device to hold the fish in place.

The dead fish was pushed length ways onto the spike,usually head first,whilst the clasp was open. The clasp was then closed, which pierced the fish through the sides with one, or several spikes. There was then the further option of wrapping wire around the fish, to both hold down the treble hooks, and to further secure the fish to the mount. Sounds like a medieval instrument of torture!

As mentioned there were several variations on the design, the differences mainly related to the length and shape of the spike, and the presence and number of side spikes on the clasp. There were several sizes available, 2 1/2-3 in,3 - 3 3/4in and 4 - 4 1/2inches. The lures were supplied with the central spikes being either leaded or unleaded. The wording Hardy's Alnwick will appear on the side of the clasp.

As usual other vintage tackle makers, like Allcocks, had their own variations.

Value wise they are not too rare,but do not appear on Ebay too often. There are currently a couple listed that are selling at £1.99.

Not too much more to say about this unusual,but interesting, family of antique fishing lures. I will feature some of the other variations in later blogs.

Thanks for reading.

Antique fishing lures on Specialist Auctions

Hello, a bit of a different post today.

Apart from eBay there are a number of other auction sites, and websites, where you can pick up antique fishing lures. Today I thought I would feature one of those, specialistauctions.com

It is similar to eBay in some ways, you join, you have user names, things are set into categories, you bid etc, but it also differs in a few ways.

As far as I can tell it appears to be free to list and buy. I am mainly concentrating today, upon what is actually listed on the site , rather than the mechanics of using the site, but I may revisit this topic in a future blog and look again at how it actually works.

Another difference, and a bit of a complaint in my eyes, is that it doesn't appear to be a true auction, at least in the field of vintage fishing tackle.

If you have a look at the site, down the left hand side of the page, you will see the categories. Enter sporting goods, and then fishing. There is then a subsection for lures. And within this is a further subsection for vintage fishing lures. You get a picture or two, and a minimal amount of descriptive text. OK you can ask the seller questions, but to me the lack of detail seems a bit lazy, particularly if you are trying to sell something.

I just checked today and i think all of the items in the vintage fishing section are being sold by one seller,the eponymous 'Lovejoy'. Now I have no problems with the name,or idea of what he is doing, but what I don't like is the fact that his items on offer at auction just appear to be an extension of some antiques business, and the items do not appear to be realistically priced to induce bidding.

Also, if I remember correctly I did put in a bid once for a reel,(cant remember exactly what),however, after entering what was actually a reasonable £25 for the reel, I got a message like "reserve not met". I continued bidding for another £10 or so, and never did get to a point where the bid was accepted. This to me suggests the reserves are far too high, and that no actual competitive bidding is ever going to occur. Mr Lovejoy might as well just list the item with its actual selling price, and you then try to knock him down from that, rather than the other way around.

As a few examples of what is actually listed at present, there are 4 or 5, common or garden, metal minnows at £25 minimum. A modernish looking, Colorado spoon at £25, an Archers Bait tackle at £25, and a boxed Horton Evans Vibro spinner at £25(I sold one on eBay a few weeks ago at about a fiver and was pleased with my return).

There are a few Hardy's items for sale,for instance some natural bait tackles at £25, and a quill minnow at £25. Again these prices are all far above what you can pick them up for on eBay. Even more expensive are a couple of what look like silk phantom minnows,each at £50!

So, all things considered, I am a bit disappointed in what this site has to offer as a competitor to eBay. I cant really knock Mr Lovejoy, fair play to him if he can get people to buy at those prices. However, I cant imagine he gets many sales, and he would shift a lot more by offering things at realistic prices, in a true auction environment.

I will keep an eye on this site, and might even try listing some of my own things at some stage just to see what happens.

Thanks for reading.

Hardy's Kidney spoons

Hi, today's post about antique fishing lures covers something fairly simple and straightforwards, the Hardy's Kidney Spoon. Although maybe not that straightforwards!, as in the Hardy's catalogues you do get a bit of variation in the naming. The Kidney Spoon appears, but there again so does a listing for the Extra Heavy Kidney Spoon. However, within the catalogues that I have they don't appear at the same time. So are they different products or the same?

I assume that they are called Kidney Spoons because they are shaped like a kidney! They are described as half scaled,which from the picture should be obvious as to why. And the Extra Heavy Spoons were made from genuine Sheffield plate(steel?). They were given a nice copper coating on the outside, and a shiny, silver coloured coating on the inner side.

As you can see, the spoon above has been provided with a chain link and a large,single hook. Very often in the catalogues they were displayed with a treble hook from one end,or possibly even a treble hook at each end. The imprinted name, Hardy Bros Alnwick appears on the inside of the spoon above, but it can appear on the outer copper side as well(possibly only on the Extra Heavy Spoons,maybe this was a distinguishing feature?).

Back in 1937 there was a range of spoons covering different dimensions. They ranged from a 1 inch length up to 3 inches. The corresponding weights of these being, 2 1/2 to 12 drams, and the corresponding prices being, 1 shilling and 3 pence, up to 2 shillings and sixpence respectively.

These spoons appeared to be on sale for a long time in some variant or other,reportedly between about 1900 and the early 1960s. For most of their life the product was marketed as copper outside,silver inside, but there was a period up until the early 1950s when a gold outside,silver inside model was promoted. This later spoon was sold in a slightly, smaller size range of ,1 inch up to 2 1/2 inches in length. I don't know if this was instead of,or as well as the copper/silver combo. Apparently, for the final few years of distribution the original copper/silver combination was the only one on offer.

What is their value? Well they are not particularly rare, but they have not appeared upon eBay for some weeks. I suspect a selling price will be around the £8- £10 mark.

I think other manufacturers of antique fishing tackle,such as Allcocks, had similar products.

In summary then, the shape of the spoon determines its name. The pattern upon the spoon may vary with Hardy's spoons, typically like the above, and at least with Hardy's spoons their origin should be clearly marked.

OK that's enough for this posting, tune in next time for another view of Vintage British Fishing lures.

Mother of Pearl Spoons

Hi, this is yet another antique fishing lure that I cant tell you much about!





Basically, back in the 1930s, Hardy's had the idea of selling lures made out of Mother of Pearl. No idea why, apart from the fact they look nice and shiny.

By the way, Mother of Pearl comes from an organic/inorganic composite material produced by some mollusc's. It is strong,resilient and iridescent. Pearls are made of it, as are the insides of various shells. It is also called Nacre.

This particular lure I listed on eBay as a Hardy's lure. It doesn't have the Hardy's name printed upon it, this is another of those rarities that they appeared unable to emblazon with their brand name. So how did I come to the conclusion that it was made by Hardy's?

Well I looked in the catalogue!
The spoon itself is fairly non descriptive,a concave piece of Mother of Pearl,nice and smooth and shiny. This particular spoon is 3 inches long. The fittings are more of an identifier. The swivel is typical Hardy's shape. You can see in the picture that one end of the swivel is a bit of a diamond shape, as opposed to round. Also the wound, wire hook trace, matched the trace portrayed within the Hardy's 1937 catalogue. The treble hook was originally surrounded by a tassel. Well most of this had worn away on my hook, but there were some remains suggesting that the tassel was originally present. All of these clues, plus the fact I bought the lure alongside some other Hardy lures, was sufficient for me to list it as a vintage Hardy's Mother of Pearl spoon. Elementary my dear Watson.


I haven't got a great deal more info about these lures. Hardy's sold their range between 1928 and the 'end of' the 1930s,at least until 1937. They had a few different sizes in the range,1, 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 2, 2 1/2 and 3 inches. The prices in 1937 ranged between 1 shilling and sixpence for the smallest, up to 3 and sixpence for the lure pictured above.

A collectors list price of £80 to £100 was suggested by a reference for this lure. However, my eBay selling price of about £30 was probably a fair price, given the condition of the spoon which had one small crack and a few light marks on it.


I have owned a few more of these spoons,all smaller than the above. Come to think of it a reason Mother of Pearl may have been used is that it is fairly robust, but also light for its size. Sometimes, you see these with a drilled hole for fittings at either end of the spoon. Sometimes, you can get the rig attached to the spoon by a little, metal plate being stuck onto one end of the spoon.

I am sure other manufacturers would have made, and sold, Mother of Pearl spoons,the trouble is identifying them. I doubt that many were successful in marking such a material with their logo.


OK,that concludes my knowledge of antique, or if you prefer vintage, Mother of Pearl spoon fishing lures. Can you add anything to this blog?


Until next time,thanks for reading.

Vintage lures on eBay.co.uk

Hello, today I will have a quick look at whats currently selling on EBay.co. uk, in the world of antique fishing lures.



I am making assumptions that most of you will be familiar with the use of eBay,if not get in touch and I can give you a few tips.



OK by going into advanced search, I can search using the terms, 'vintage fishing lure', and then, 'antique fishing lure', and thus be able to look for those terms in both the items title description, and also within the descriptive text of the item. Often the seller will not have used the term 'antique fishing lure' or 'vintage fishing lure' within his title, but it will likely be present within his descriptive text. This way I can cover both options and not miss out on any interesting lures.



Some of auctions will have likely concluded before you read this blog,but never mind it will give you an idea of what sells. Usually similar items reappear on a regular basis, so if you miss out this time you can get it next time.



Here are my thoughts on the value of whats on sale. Of course you may disagree, and if you have been waiting for a specific lure to complete your collection the value to you may be immense. So I don't mean to criticise, just make an observation with my opinion of rarity and value.



There are a number of Hardy baits on sale,as ever.

Hardy sprats at £30,max price I suggest,these can be quite rare.

Hardy Golden sprats at £20. Probably about the going rate for these,they are not too rare.

A set of 4 Hardy Swimmer baits at £50. Well, you do get 4 baits for the price but I think this is getting near the upper limit.

A Hardy's Jim Vincent spoon at £21. These are quite rare so I think this could go a bit higher,£35?

A Hardy's Jock Scott plug at £5. This doesn't look in good condition so I would suggest a fiver is maximum for this.

Hardy prawn tackles at £12, these are fairly common and the price for this looks high.

A Hardy Natural bait spinner at £15. Again these appear fairly regularly and this looks a high price to me.

And finally for Hardy's, a blank wooden minnow with metal fins. These are quite rare and the current price of £10 is a bargain. I can see this going for £40.



There are quite a few un-named lures and minnows. These are fine for building up a colourful collection and normally I would expect to bid about a £1 per lure.

A few other named lures also raise some interest.

There are a pair of Phantom minnows,one from WM Brown and the other from Mallochs,selling for £15. This looks like a good price for manufacturers that don't appear too often.

There are 5 Fosters Kill Devil lures. These are quite unusual and well worth a bid. I would expect these to get to maybe £50.

There are a couple of Allcocks Feathero minnows on sale. One at about £11, and the other at £18,but the latter has a box. These seem realistic prices.

There is a Helical lure on offer at £10. This is cheap for quite a rare lure. I would expect this to get up to maybe £40?

Farlows lures don't come up for sale that often. So a Farlows minnow at £7 is a good price.

Finally there is a Geens Improved Phantom lure going for £40. These are quite unusual and rare for EBay. I can see this reaching £50 or more.

Hopefully that summary of antique fishing lures currently on eBay is of some use and interest. As mentioned above some of these auctions may have already closed. But the blog will at least give you an idea of what is typically on offer.

Thanks for reading,see you next time.

The Murdoch Quill Minnow

Hello, today's featured vintage British lure is the quill minnow.

I must admit to knowing next to nothing about this generic type of lure, despite this they are one of my favourite antique fishing lures.


This lack of knowledge is my reasoning for encouraging response from more knowledgeable readers.

The lure pictured today was manufactured by a company called Murdochs. However, the basic type of lure was made by most tackle manufacturers, and in later posts I will feature some of those. Possibly by then I will be able to include more detailed information as well.


So today's post is relatively brief.


The quill minnow was, obviously, made from quill. I am not sure what kind of quill was generally used. The term quill I think includes the stiff spine of a birds feather, and also more unusual sources such as porcupine quills. I was always disbelieving when a lad, that there were sufficient porcupines worldwide to be able to supply the vast number of porcupine quill floats that had been popular in those, and the preceding decades.


The quill of the lure has been cut open at each end, to allow the wire hook trace to pass through. The quill itself is usually painted with a background colour (above was turquoise), and then a spine colour and belly colour possibly added. The paint job is usually finished off with a few stripes and patches, and a couple of painted eyes.

A set of fins is added to the front to allow the lure to spin, and generally you can get left or right hand spinning lures. If there is going to be a makers name anywhere it will be on the fins, or vanes as they are also called. There was no name on this minnow.

The above minnow is 2 1/4 inches long. They generally seem to come at lengths between about 1 inch and 3 inches. The number of treble hooks varies, I have seen between 1 and 3.

The lures are usually presented to the original buyer by being tied to a card. The card included basic details of the manufacturer, what the product is and the dimensions of the lure. My lure featured above came from a manufacturer called Murdochs, who were based in Redditch,Worcestershire. A number of tackle manufacturers were based in Redditch, the most famous being Allcocks.

Actually I don't live too far away from Redditch,about a 20 minute drive. One of my plans on a day off work, is to visit the town and have a look around to see if any tackle makers still exist. I then thought of visiting the library to see what locally published books on the town, and its businesses are available. You often get books written by local authors, often ex workers, that cover the history of local industries. Not sure what is in the local museum either.

How old are quill minnows? For the above minnow I don't know exactly, but I bought it at auction alongside some more lures that came from the 1930s. It is recorded that Hardy's quill minnows were on sale from the 1880s up to the 1960s. Which presumably showed that they worked!

OK folks, that's all for today. Probably back to Hardy's for the next antique fishing lure in a few days. Thanks for reading, bye.