Do I have a Dingley ?

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Keston
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Do I have a Dingley ?

Post by Keston »

This morning I bought a lovely looking old fly reel.
It is marked A. Carter & sons South Milton St W.
Not a name I'm familiar with but from searching the name Dingley came up andvagain a name I have not seen before .
Inside it is marked D22 and there are two 2s marked on the brass foot.
It's a grand looking reel and works as it should but it does have some chips and dings.
If it is a Dingly I take it they made reels etc and rebranded for sale by others as J.W.Youngs did ?
Would anyone hazard a guess for it's age ? I thought it looked 20s/30s
Kind regards
John

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Harry H
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Re: Do I have a Dingley ?

Post by Harry H »

You do indeed, he made reels for quite a few different retailers. :Thumb:
There are three things that improve with age: wine, friendship and water sense, and there's no short cut.
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Keston
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Re: Do I have a Dingley ?

Post by Keston »

Thank you Richard .
Was he a one man band or was it a larger company do you know ?
It seems really well made .
John

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Silexman
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Re: Do I have a Dingley ?

Post by Silexman »

Definitely a Dingley and a nice example. WH Dingley worked for Hardy in Alnwick. Left them in 1911 and joined Walker Bampton. Left them to set up on his own around 1920. I think that your reel was made in the 1920s. There's a half decent book about him called "D is for Dingley".
Dingley's was always a small operation. Apparently a maximum of 6 people working there making rods as well as reels. Almost certainly Mr. Dingley was closely involved with all of the reels that his firm made.
The reels are much sort after because of their quality and history. They are just as good today as the day they were made. I have some from his time at Hardy and they are beautiful examples of craftsmanship and engineering.

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Keston
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Re: Do I have a Dingley ?

Post by Keston »

Thank you for the information Silexman , all very interesting. I searched for the book you mentioned and found a rather nice write up describing W.H.Dingley as arguably the most skilled English reelmaker of the 20th century .
www.whitefishpress.com/bookdetail.asp?book=117
I feel embarrassed I did not know the name but would live to know more now.
Although this particular reel is has a few chips etc you can still tell iris very much a quality item .
It has been polished up at some point but I may refrain from doing that myself and leave it as I found it .
John

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