The Secret Swim...

Removing too many power fibres may cause this to happen; I've never seen it myself but I don't doubt it could happen. I've always believed a slow recovery was due to there being too much moisture left in the cane, either through insufficient seasoning of the culms or inadequate heating at the production stage. Inferior quality cane would also account for it.

A rod that is slow to recover in one plane only can usually be tracked down to the failure of one of the six strips. I had a James MkIV like that which had 'gone' in the top section at one of the nodes on the strip which lay opposite to the rings. It was a shame as it was in every other respect a fine mid-1950s example. The only way to fix this would be to separate the six sections and make a new strip, which would probably be more trouble than making a whole new tip.

Looks like a mid-upper twenty. Nice fish from anywhere.

"email me, I will snap & send you any other part of the rod."

Sounds like he *is* prepared to damage the precious beast after all...

I expect John and I will have a stall again, so look forward to seeing you. I'm sorry to say I only have one Wizard and I won't be parting with it! There's usually one or two gold labels on offer - in fact last time there were quite a few, at reasonable prices if you were prepared to do a fair bit of straightening and general restoration work.

I am inclined to disagree with Nobby about prices. Sure, there are some who appear to be out of touch with the real world, but ultimately they will realise they are not selling anything and come to their senses, or retire from the scene.

There are actually two values you can put on a rod or reel - what you think you can sell it for (at any given time) and what you think it is worth. Old tackle is a finite resource, so supply and demand sets the general value of an item. In times of recession people are just not prepared to pay full whack, and some - perceiving that it's a buyers market - expect a bargain. Most businesses will sell off surplus stock cheap from time to time to keep the turnover going, but vintage tackle isn't always like that; if the dealer can afford to hang onto an item he has no reason to give in to haggling. There are more than a few regular visitors to the Romsey fair (and elsewhere) who appear to attend purely in a hope of picking up a bargain, and who will haggle over everything. I sometimes think they don't really want the item at all, but gain some perverse satisfaction from saving a few quid.

Consider it this way; a stallholder had a nice rod - let's say a gold label Wizard. He wants £200 for it. Whatever your views may be on the value of that rod, what do you expect him to do? Sell it to you for £150, just because that's what you reckon it's worth? Why should he? If there's another stall with a Wizard for sale in similar condition for £150, you could propose that his price is too high and try to negotiate. If he refuses to lower his price, walk away and buy the other one. If his is the only one for sale, you must either go without, look elsewhere (fleabay, and take a chance that it's not a turkey) or stump up the cash. It's not rocket science.

If you think the prices at tackle fairs are too high, save yourself the time, petrol and entrance fee and stay at home and browse the internet auction sites.

I always enjoy Romsey, it's a good day, you're not charged a fortune for a stall, and it's well run.

Prices are always going to vary. At any type of sales event you are going to get two types of traders....those that don't want to take things home, and price accordingly, and those that don't mind not selling things because there's always another event they'll be at.

Romsey is always a mix of the two, and at every show there are bargains to be had. Not least because they'll always be dealers that want to thin down there stock, and odd, amateur types like Oldspot and myself who enjoy having a stall...have a yearly clear out (or rationalisation if you will)...sell things for probably less than we paid for them...take the proceeds and, more often than not, spend them on another stall! Modern-ish stuff sells well too we've noticed.

That said, looking at ebay recently you see higher prices on there for many things, particularly where the competition factor is involved for popular items like James rods, Cardinals, Aerial pins etc. It seems the bubble has slightly burst since the 'trad revival' of a decade ago, but the really desirable items, being naturally limited in supply as mentioned already, are always going to fetch good prices.

It's almost self regulating anyway. The regular dealers, who do the show circuit, will always price things at prices someone will pay...the same as any business. If they didn't sell anything at those prices...they wouldn't turn up at such events...and without their support, they'd be no stalls and no tackle fairs. No doubt none of these tackle fairs could run just off the back of those like myself, who do one show a year for the fun/clear out factor.

Morning John and GOS, please don't think I was moaning about the prices...more that some traders have an inflated idea of what some stuff is worth. They've got some pre-concieved idea of what profit they are going to make and stick to it...even if nobody buys...which is no profit at all!

If they stick to their guns they may get a buyer eventually ...there's always someone with more money than sense...but on the whole they spend a lot of time re-loading their vans at the end of each fair.


As I watch eBay a lot...Lilly Law would say 'a very big lot'....I have a good idea of what everyday stuff will fetch and I know most of the regular traders on the site by reputation if not by sight.


Nevertheless I am still amazed at what some of the more desirable tackle fetches from time to time....heady stuff!


I will still be there in March, as usual, picking up the odd bargain or momento or just some little trinket that amuses me. Chatting with a few like minded souls and just enjoying the day.


I'll try and keep out of the way of the serious collectors to whom I must be such an annoyance !



;-)

To put the price of old tackle in to context, you can buy an old split cane rod for say, £150 which has taken someone many hours to build, has been looked after for forty or so odd years and given one or more anglers many hours of angling pleasure.

Or you can go to Tesco's fill up the car and do the weekly shop?

Or you can put a 10% deposit down on the latest 'bagging' pole

Hmm... tough choice.

erm didn't sell...

My prediction is that the rod will not sell. I have never sold on e-bay but presume that there is a listing charge so what is the point of putting a rod up for such a ridiculous starting sum? Surely this will just cost him money?

There is an initial listing fee, plus extra charges for pictures. I believe there is a charge for the enlargement facility that allows you to look at enlarged pictures, by 'hovering', without entering the individual auction.

Then if the rod sells, there is a percentage of the total price going to eBay in commission and since they insist on PayPal use these days* they also benefit from the PayPal charges too !


* Some sellers still insist on cheques and seem so far to be getting away with it, however there are very few with sufficient good feedback and history that I would deal with them....FWK88 and one other...Piker6, is it ? The likes of BarneyGallop, of course, but sadly he hasn't listed anything for ages.

I've noticed these sellers with little or no reputation starting things at daft high prices and I'm convinced it doesn't work. Better to start it off at a low price with little or no reserve and trust to the fact that there's people logging on for a look every day...like me.

Indeed, I managed to get a very nice rod at half its value because the seller did just that....a high starting price, indeed so high that I was the only bidder. At the same time he listed an even more desirable rod for several hundred pounds and didn't get a sniff. He listed that rod agin months later and still not a single bid.
I happen to know that one of us contacted him after the auction ended and a deal was struck. Clever blighter !


It is suprising, considering all this, how many people conduct their business on eBay......I suppose it is simpler and perhaps cheaper too, than creating and maintaining your own website.

There are problems for sellers these days, with the inability to leave feedback for bad buyers and the 'presumption of guilt' and automatic refund if an item goes 'missing in the post', but there are benefits too, such as automatic printing of address labels and automatic 'goods have been despatched' e-mails.



I find I do an awful lot of shopping on-line these days and invariably it's from eBay.


I suppose it becomes a 'self fulfilling prophecy' as more and more use it, so more and more will sell on it.



But 800 beer tokens for a reed match rod is daft...Otter brand or not. Propably worth little more than an eighth of that since it looks so tidy.

With the number of us on this forum who originate from his area it might well be that one of us knows the seller and I wish him the best of luck.