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.

The Hardy Golden Sprat Devon

Hello, today's antique fishing lure is the Hardy Golden Sprat Devon Minnow.

A couple of days ago I posted information about the Allcocks Nevison minnow. Within that post I mentioned that there is also a Nevison Golden Sprat. Well, the Hardy's lure is supposed to be an artificial representation, of that natural representation that Allcocks were trying to achieve.

Apparently the sprat fish are a readily available, early season, food source for salmon. Hence, these would appear to be suitable, early season lures for the salmon fisherman. Not sure why the lures are generally golden in colour, as the actual fish themselves are silver, but there you go! Thus Hardy's saw the potential for the introduction of a lure to copy the natural food source, and so introduced the featured bait.

There were actually a couple of different versions of this bait. The first model came out in 1925, and ran until about 1951 when the design changed. The second version is pictured above. This latter model ran for about 10 years until 1961. As can be seen above the basic design is fairly simple. The typical minnow shape (made of metal), with a couple of metal or perspex fins and the tail represented by a series of stiff bristles. The whole was then painted either gold or silver. The fins on the sprats featured above are metallic,one fin is imprinted with an R (for right hand spin) and the other fin imprinted with Hardy's England. I don't know if the perspex fins were identified in the same manner. A Hardy's swivel at the front and a single treble hook at the rear completes the lure. You may also find the lures with an extra treble wired the the body of the minnow.

How can you identify between the earlier version, and the later version, I hear you ask?

Well, the earlier lures had eyes and gill covers painted on them. As you can see the above lures are plain. The early lures also had a painted spine. The lures pictured above are fairly oval in shape when looked at in profile. Pictures that I have seen of the earlier lures make them look more round in profile. Maybe that was just a trick of the camera?

These lures were produced in a range of sizes, 2, 2 1/2, 3, 3 1/2 and 4 inches long. These sizes corresponded to weights of 2 1/2, 4 1/2, 7, 10, and 15 drams respectively. They came available with left or right hand spin.

What did they cost? Well back in the 1950s they ranged between 2 shillings and 9 pence, and 4 shillings. If you do an antique fishing lures,or vintage fishing lures search on eBay UK today, you cant find any that have actually sold recently,but there are a few currently on sale for about £20. But they have no bids. Will they sell at that price? I would suggest it is a bit high.

Finally, watch out,there are a few different types of Hardy's sprat lures. They are not all the 'Golden Sprat'(or silver version of the Golden Sprat) as featured above. More about those another day.

That's all for this posting. Next time I will give a brief appraisal of what is selling on eBay in the world of vintage antique fishing lures.

Thanks for reading, bye.

The Allcocks Norwich Spoon

Hello, today I am going to talk about the Allcocks Norwich Spoon.


Actually I think the term Norwich spoon is a general description of the design, and a number of companies actually made or distributed them.



The one pictured I think came from Allcocks though.


The basic design was an egg shaped,concave (or convex depending upon which way you are looking at it) spoon. There was usually a hole at either end to hold the swivel and hook respectively.


The spoon was then decorated,(you may see the term chased, I think that just means decorated). This particular spoon was described as half chased and plain outside. That is, the top half of the outside of the spoon is decorated and the bottom half was plain. Sometimes the two halves of the face can be different colours. I have seen them with gold gilt coloured top halves and plain silver bottom halves. The inside of the spoon was often painted half red, and the other half left silver.


The decoration on the face side is very pretty and intricate, depicting a scale pattern and the gill cover of a fish. The patterns can vary a bit depending upon manufacturer, but generally look like the photo above.


This particular Norwich spoon has a red, cut glass eye that can spin around a pin. The collection of glass eyed lures is a niche within itself,and a very profitable niche if you can get hold of any lures! The glass eye above is fairly common and not the most sought after type. Later blogs will try to give you more information about the subject of glass eyed lures. Basically though you will see the spoons with eyes as,or similar to the eye above,eyes that are held in clasps (like how a finger ring holds the stone), eyes that are painted onto the lure and sometimes no eyes at all.


Sometimes the treble hook is covered with a tassle of, usually,red wool. Obviously this one is plain.

They come in a range of sizes and Allcocks catalogued a range that included 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/4, 2 1/2 and 3 inches.

I think the above Norwich came from the 1950s. However this general design was around in the early 1900s. One reference I have seen indicates that early Norwich spoons were made by a company called Gregory. They were based in Birmingham and their lures are very collectible. They allowed Allcocks to distribute their lures for them. Sometimes you will find the spoons stamped with the makers name and I have seen both Gregory and Allcocks stamped Norwich spoons. Were there any others?

The eBay value of these varies with age and name and glass eye. I think the above lure sold for about £10. The more basic,more modern versions may sell for just £3 or £4. As I write this blog there is an older, Norwich currently on sale that has got up to £26 after just one days listing. This has the best type of glass eye. The seller indicates that although his lure is not named, he reckons it comes from Allcocks, because the glass eye has 4 clasps which is apparently indicative of Allcocks.

OK thats enough on The Norwich Spoon for todays blog.

Thanks for reading, the next lure to come up is the Hardy Golden Sprat.

The Nevison Minnow from Allcocks

Hello, today I am displaying a vintage british fishing lure called the Nevison Minnow. As you will see from the detail of the blog this is not a lure that I know a lot about!

The Nevison was distributed,if not manufactured, by Allcocks. Not sure how old this is,or when they were around. Looking at the lure and the packaging I get the impression of the 1940s or 50s? I couldnt find the lure in my 1930s Allcocks catalogue but I dont think their catalogues included every item on sale at the time of publication.

If you put Nevison into Google you get quite a few science related hits, indicating that there was some kind of biologist maybe,called Nevison, and he/she seemed to have some interest in fish.So maybe the name came from this association?

Also, maybe the title Nevison was a generic name for a group of lures and not just the Nevison minnow? The reason that I say this is that currently on eBay.co.uk there is an item for sale which includes two Nevison Minnows, and two other lures called Nevison Golden Sprats. So at least one other kind of Nevison lure exists. Whilst we are on eBay just a quick comment on the typical value of Nevisons. Without a box they usually sell for a few pounds,maybe £5 if you are lucky. With the box you can expect a bit more, and on a good day maybe get up to £10. The lot mentioned above looks quite interesting and might be worth a bid,(£15?),if you want to get some Nevisons into your collection.

Back to the lure itself. I dont know much about these as you will now see.

Basically it seems to be some kind of real, dead fish, encased in some kind of clear resin. Obviously being a real fish it looks pretty natural and realistic. To be honest the minnow doesnt look very minnow like to me,so I dont know exactly what kind of fish has been used.

There seem to be a selection of colour patterns available. For instance the minnow pictured above is the trout pattern. Again it doesnt look like a baby trout to me, but I can see that the speckled pattern is trout like.

The above minnow is classified as medium size,i think it measured 2 inches. However I have seen references that indicate that they range in size from 2 inches up to 4 inches. So this might suggest that the medium size is actually the smallest size.

As you can see the hook rig is wired around the outside of the bait, and usually comprises of a couple of treble hooks,one at the tail and one half way up the body.

And that is pretty much all I know about the Nevison Minnow itself,hence any further information will be gratefully accepted.

The packaging can very a bit so is worth a late mention. Mostly you encounter the white card box as featured above,with the Allcocks label pasted onto the top. However, occasionally you can get an individual minnow attached to a card and wrapped in cellophane. Might be worth searching for one of each for your collection?

Another lure from Allcocks coming up shortly, The Allcocks Norwich Spoon.

Thanks for reading,bye for now.

The Hardy Strathallan Devon Lure

Hello, pictured on the right is the Hardy Strathallan Devon Lure.

I am sure you will all be familiar with the tackle company Hardy Brothers. Their name will crop up regularly throughout these blogs, and I would imagine that certain blogs will be devoted specifically to Hardys, as a company, rather than just to specific lures.



Well, they have produced a vast range of lures, and today I have featured one of their relatively modern ones.

Production of this started in 1963,(but I do not know how long production continued for).

They named it the Strathallan Devon. Later blogs will talk more about the naming of minnows, and devon minnows, and other variants. Basically at this point all you need to know is that the simple, fish like design for this lure is classified as a devon minnow. Where does the word Strathallan come from? I don't know, but Hardys often named their products after customers,or places. Occasionally their customers suggested the design of a product to Hardys,who took it on as a good idea and recognised the contribution of their customer by naming the product after them. A nice gesture I think. Also it meant they didn't have to think too hard for the name themselves!

Looking on the internet, the name Strathallan when put into Google provides me with the information that it is a river valley in Scotland. This sounds like a good idea for a fishing lure name, so why not? The Google alternatives of a boarding school, a hotel in Birmingham or a World War 2 troopship (sadly sunk), do not sound to be quite as likely a reason.

The lure was made in one piece, of moulded plastic. You will note in the picture, just,that in front of the treble hook is a little cone shaped sleeve. This was to prevent the hook from bending against the body of the lure and distorting its shape. Whether this idea was successful I don't know. At the front of the lure is a small retaining ring which held a swivel. I think the, rather protruding, eyes on this were made of glass.

The lure was made in various sizes,including 2, 2 1/4, 2 1/2 and 2 3/4 inches.

There was a wide range of colours available, gold(as pictured), silver, red and silver, ox blood and silver (I wish I could see that combination!), rainbow trout and finally natural minnow(as opposed to un-natural?).

The only example I have encountered is the gold one above. If I remember correctly it was a 2 inch Strathallan.

These are relatively modern lures, and as such I would have thought relatively commonly available. However, I have only ever seen the above pictured lure available at auction. Nor do they seem to appear on EBay very often. Despite this I think when I sold the above lure I only got a few bidders, and it went for about £4 or £5. A suggested list price for this was £15-£25, hence the buyer got a bargain, which was fair enough.

A possible reason for its lack of attention was,(if I remember correctly), its lack of brand markings. Hardy Brothers have never been slow at coming forwards when it comes to self promotion. They manage to get their name onto the smallest of items, even from their earliest days of tackle production. Hence it is somewhat surprising(if i remember correctly!!) that this lure is un-named. Presumably the production process wasn't amenable to printing, or impressing a logo or name onto the lure. I have found in this hobby that the name on the item can be critical to financial success, if you intend collecting to eventually sell.

No idea what kind of packaging this was supplied in, box? blister pack? card? Anyone know?

Hopefully this has proved useful in providing at least a bit of information about that nameless, but cute little lure that you had in your collection.


The next lure coming up is the Allcocks Nevison Minnow. I definitely need some help with this one!

The Horton Evans Vibro Spinner

Hello,





OK, this is the first of the Vintage British Fishing Lures that I want to feature. The content of this post will demonstrate to you just how much,or rather how little, I know about the lures featured.




The lure pictured on the left is called the Vibro spinner, made by a company called Horton Evans.


First question, does anybody know anything else about Horton Evans? Where were they based?When did they exist? Do they still exist? What else did they produce? etc. etc.


One of the tricky parts of collecting vintage lures is identifying them. Unfortunately they rarely include a imprinted model name, and often do not even include the manufacturers name. This is the case for this lure,you will not find the name Vibro imprinted upon it. Very often you will not be lucky enough to be able to buy them with the original packaging. In this case I was lucky.


How old is this lure? Whenever I see these lures I get the impression that they are from the 1950s or 1960s. My reasoning for this is the look of the packaging, as much as anything. It just looks to be from that period. Also, the label on the packaging indicates that the lure was made in England. Not Britain, United Kingdom or Europe, but England. Again for some reason suggesting to me the 50s or 60s.


What kind of product range was there? I have owned, and encountered on Ebay, a selection of colour patterns and different sizes. The lure featured is a 2 inch(ie the length of the spinner blade), green and yellow patterned lure. As you can see, half of the face of the spinner is green and the other half is yellow. The reverse of the spinner is also green and yellow,but in the alternate order,the green of the face is backed by the yellow on the reverse.


I am aware of various sizes,1 inch, 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch.


The actual overall, length of the 2 inch lure is 4 inches, including weighted bar and treble hook. Why are they not classified by this length, instead of the length of the spinner?


Again there seem to be a range of colour patterns available (although all of the ones that I have seen have been of similar design to the above,split 50:50 horizontally). I am aware of the colour combinations blue/silver,red/gold,blue/gold and of course green/yellow. Any more?


The treble hook size on the lure above is about size 10. Any others available?


The packaging that I have encountered is a rectangular cardboard box, covered in pale yellow paper. In the above example the label records, Horton Evans ' Vibro' (Patent No 665139) Spinner 2" Green & Yellow (Made in England). Is this patent relevant to all?

In terms of value these tend to sell on Ebay for maybe £2-£3, usually the top prices include original packaging. So a relatively inexpensive,but colourful item to include in a collection. At the time of writing there are a couple featured on Ebay.co.uk , however the pictures arent very good so I would be wary of bidding for them. The Vibro spinners appear fairly regularly so you can always wait until next time.

OK hopefully this gives you an idea of the kind of database I am trying to create, and the kind of information I require. I will try to regularly update this blog, and include a range of lure types made by a range of manufacturers. I will try to keep you updated with some select items currently selling on Ebay, or other auction sites,but please dont rely on this blog as your only means of keeping abreast of what is selling on there. Have a look yourselves.

If you have any information on the Horton Evans Vibro that you wish to pass on, please get in touch.

However, I havent actually worked out the best way of communicating yet,what does anybody suggest ? through comments? through an email? how do i stop my email address from being spammed if i publicise it on this site? does it matter?.

Indeed information and photos of any vintage British fishing lures will be gratefully received. I promise to respond to all emails, and will include your information whenever possible and relevant.

Thanks for reading this posting.

In my next posting I will feature the Hardy Strathallan Lure.

Vintage British Fishing Lures

The idea of this blog is to create an interactive reference for free information about vintage British fishing lures. The collection of fishing lures has become a popular hobby. However, the background information on such lures is limited. What I hope to achieve is to make regular posts, highlighting and describing individual lures, but inviting feedback from the readers. Additional information from readers will supplement my descriptions, and make for a useful reference for collectors of lures. Ultimately I would like to transfer the information onto a webpage as a place of centralised reference.

The blog will be fairly informal. The information I am able to provide is somewhat limited by my lack of knowledge,hence the need for the blog! I will be happy to take advice and use further information supplied by readers. Should readers wish to provide me with their own text, or photos of vintage British lures, I will be happy to consider those for inclusion,in fact I will encourage this as I appreciate your knowledge is likely to be greater than mine.

Occasionally I may make reference to what is selling on Ebay and on other internet sites,,just to give the reader a chance to source something they may have missed. Be warned I sell on Ebay,so you may end up buying from me if i am lucky! I will try to be fair in these posts though and give an impartial view.

Right, thanks for reading, on my next post i will include the first of my lures and take it from there.

Coming up, The Horton Evans Vibro Spinner.