Thomas Turner
Trade Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2017
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Here at Thomas Turner we are delighted to supply avid collectors and first-time buyers alike. We have a huge range of vintage and modern fishing tackle at all price points from the fairly common, but still interesting, tackle to much sought-after rarities. We can help advise you or try to seek out that particular item you are looking for. We also buy, to of course keep our stock of fishing tackle turning over on a regular basis so let us know if you have something interesting.
My interest as I’ve mentioned before started because of my Dad buying an old Hardy rod in a Bric a Brac shop in the early 1990s. In the past 30 years to say I have learnt a lot goes without saying. I remember writing to Graham Turner (Author of Fishing Tackle A Collectors Guide) in 1991 as an 11-year-old boy asking him about a brass Farlow’s pole winch we had bought from an antiques shop on the Barbican in Plymouth. The reason we thought it was a rare Farlow’s pole winch was because we hired out this very book from the local library and after searching through the endless pages of brass reels, we concluded that the reel stood before us was this rare brass Farlow’s winch. I was soon disappointed as after sending the photo to Graham Turner he kindly replied and explained this was ‘just’ a brass plate wind reel by Farlow’s – still a nice reel. This was our first mistake on the endless learning curve we are still on!
By this point we had built up a large collection of average reels and I remember attending Nock Deighton Fishing Auctions with loads of these reels and doing my best to get one of the other stall holders to swap 20 of our ‘run of the mill’ reels for his Hardy 4” brass faced Perfect. Not surprisingly he said ‘no!’. Graham Turner was at the sale and said ‘Dave think quality, not quantity’. Looking back, I can see why he said that looking at the general tatt we had on our table! A big lesson learned.
You must remember this was pre internet, eBay days, where the world didn’t seem as small as it does now. We would put adverts in local paper’s, and I started having a small advert in the Angling Times newspaper. We would get a fair few calls in those days with some nice results.
The dawn of the internet and eBay changed everything for me. I couldn’t believe how much fishing tackle was out there. I was hooked (excuse the pun) using eBay as often as I could. By this time, I was 17 or 18 years of age and going to car boots and antique fares, buying what I could and then selling it on eBay. As I gained some experience ‘buying and selling’ on eBay I was always amazed at the prices some items would make one week and not the next.
I went to a flea market with my grandparents in Frome in 1999 and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw one stall holder with lots of very good, used, Hardy reels and tackle, and of all places, being in the sleepy town of Frome! Borrowing some money from my grandparents I bought the reels and tackle and could not wait to get them home and start photographing and advertising them on eBay. Within a week all auctions had ended. Not one auction was sold in the UK, all went to the US and one reel to Japan. Amazing I thought. I soon had a small group of regular buyers from all corners of the world! The International buying scene for vintage tackle had well and truly started!
It was around this time that we began attending Redditch Tackle Fair whereby we would have a table with various items to sell to other collectors, dealers and members of the public. They were great days! I always remember seeing reels I had only ever seen in the various tackle books on dealers’ tables. I remember George Thornton having around 20 brass faced Hardy Perfects! I was in a total wonder seeing all these fantastic collectable reels! As a young collector/seller back then I would save what money I had for Redditch in the hope of buying some decent tackle and then selling it on eBay. Occasionally, Redditch Tackle Fare did deliver the goods. A chap I had never seen before was setting up his table next to us around 7:30am. He turned out to be an American chap who was selling off some of his father in laws collection. I have never seen as many quality Hardy reels in their original leather cases! I managed to buy three brass faced Hardy Perfects. This chap literally sold all his reels by around 9am to other collectors/dealers, packed up and left. I haven’t seen him since. I sold the three, brass faced Hardy Perfects within a couple hours. What a day! Its nice when you get to see such nice tackle right in front of you but other times it takes effort and you must get down and dirty going through various boxes of tatt in the boxes on the floor at antique fares and auctions, hoping to find something special that no one else has seen.
I soon realised eBay is just like your average High Street, different people are looking at different days of the week and different times of the day. I tried to sell a reel for a £99 first bid and after a week the auction ended with zero bids. Not to be too disheartened I readvertised the same reel looking for a starting bid of £79 and a week later the auction ended with 5 bids and the reel fetching a brilliant £328!!! Yet that same winning bid could have secured that very same reel a week earlier for £99! Amazing! You just don’t know!
People ask me ‘when is the best time to sell on eBay?’ I always give the same answer – anytime! It doesn’t matter when you start it, or finish it these days. Even if you had it ending at 3am local time, most people now use ‘sniping’ bids that bid for you in literally the last second! I’m old school and love bidding myself within the last few seconds! One thing I would say is to advertise items for at least 5 days. I think 5-day auctions give most people a chance to see the items you have on offer.
Overall, I had a very good 22 years trading on eBay before starting with Thomas Turner. I have had some great finds and some good sales. I’ve always agreed with eBay’s original motto – ‘Most people are good’. It’s a great saying. In all the years I’ve only experienced a few problems but these have been resolved quickly. The same goes for our working ethics at Thomas Turner. We always strive to be fair which is one reason why we have been in business so long.
As always, if you have anything you wish to sell or have valued, get in touch! We are always happy to help!
Dave Townsend
The post Buying and selling tackle treasures over the years appeared first on Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques.
Continue reading...
My interest as I’ve mentioned before started because of my Dad buying an old Hardy rod in a Bric a Brac shop in the early 1990s. In the past 30 years to say I have learnt a lot goes without saying. I remember writing to Graham Turner (Author of Fishing Tackle A Collectors Guide) in 1991 as an 11-year-old boy asking him about a brass Farlow’s pole winch we had bought from an antiques shop on the Barbican in Plymouth. The reason we thought it was a rare Farlow’s pole winch was because we hired out this very book from the local library and after searching through the endless pages of brass reels, we concluded that the reel stood before us was this rare brass Farlow’s winch. I was soon disappointed as after sending the photo to Graham Turner he kindly replied and explained this was ‘just’ a brass plate wind reel by Farlow’s – still a nice reel. This was our first mistake on the endless learning curve we are still on!
By this point we had built up a large collection of average reels and I remember attending Nock Deighton Fishing Auctions with loads of these reels and doing my best to get one of the other stall holders to swap 20 of our ‘run of the mill’ reels for his Hardy 4” brass faced Perfect. Not surprisingly he said ‘no!’. Graham Turner was at the sale and said ‘Dave think quality, not quantity’. Looking back, I can see why he said that looking at the general tatt we had on our table! A big lesson learned.
You must remember this was pre internet, eBay days, where the world didn’t seem as small as it does now. We would put adverts in local paper’s, and I started having a small advert in the Angling Times newspaper. We would get a fair few calls in those days with some nice results.
The dawn of the internet and eBay changed everything for me. I couldn’t believe how much fishing tackle was out there. I was hooked (excuse the pun) using eBay as often as I could. By this time, I was 17 or 18 years of age and going to car boots and antique fares, buying what I could and then selling it on eBay. As I gained some experience ‘buying and selling’ on eBay I was always amazed at the prices some items would make one week and not the next.
I went to a flea market with my grandparents in Frome in 1999 and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw one stall holder with lots of very good, used, Hardy reels and tackle, and of all places, being in the sleepy town of Frome! Borrowing some money from my grandparents I bought the reels and tackle and could not wait to get them home and start photographing and advertising them on eBay. Within a week all auctions had ended. Not one auction was sold in the UK, all went to the US and one reel to Japan. Amazing I thought. I soon had a small group of regular buyers from all corners of the world! The International buying scene for vintage tackle had well and truly started!
It was around this time that we began attending Redditch Tackle Fair whereby we would have a table with various items to sell to other collectors, dealers and members of the public. They were great days! I always remember seeing reels I had only ever seen in the various tackle books on dealers’ tables. I remember George Thornton having around 20 brass faced Hardy Perfects! I was in a total wonder seeing all these fantastic collectable reels! As a young collector/seller back then I would save what money I had for Redditch in the hope of buying some decent tackle and then selling it on eBay. Occasionally, Redditch Tackle Fare did deliver the goods. A chap I had never seen before was setting up his table next to us around 7:30am. He turned out to be an American chap who was selling off some of his father in laws collection. I have never seen as many quality Hardy reels in their original leather cases! I managed to buy three brass faced Hardy Perfects. This chap literally sold all his reels by around 9am to other collectors/dealers, packed up and left. I haven’t seen him since. I sold the three, brass faced Hardy Perfects within a couple hours. What a day! Its nice when you get to see such nice tackle right in front of you but other times it takes effort and you must get down and dirty going through various boxes of tatt in the boxes on the floor at antique fares and auctions, hoping to find something special that no one else has seen.
I soon realised eBay is just like your average High Street, different people are looking at different days of the week and different times of the day. I tried to sell a reel for a £99 first bid and after a week the auction ended with zero bids. Not to be too disheartened I readvertised the same reel looking for a starting bid of £79 and a week later the auction ended with 5 bids and the reel fetching a brilliant £328!!! Yet that same winning bid could have secured that very same reel a week earlier for £99! Amazing! You just don’t know!
People ask me ‘when is the best time to sell on eBay?’ I always give the same answer – anytime! It doesn’t matter when you start it, or finish it these days. Even if you had it ending at 3am local time, most people now use ‘sniping’ bids that bid for you in literally the last second! I’m old school and love bidding myself within the last few seconds! One thing I would say is to advertise items for at least 5 days. I think 5-day auctions give most people a chance to see the items you have on offer.
Overall, I had a very good 22 years trading on eBay before starting with Thomas Turner. I have had some great finds and some good sales. I’ve always agreed with eBay’s original motto – ‘Most people are good’. It’s a great saying. In all the years I’ve only experienced a few problems but these have been resolved quickly. The same goes for our working ethics at Thomas Turner. We always strive to be fair which is one reason why we have been in business so long.
As always, if you have anything you wish to sell or have valued, get in touch! We are always happy to help!
Dave Townsend
The post Buying and selling tackle treasures over the years appeared first on Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques.
Continue reading...