Dating a JW Martin Rod?
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2018 9:27 am
Considering JW Martin had a reputation of mass producing fishing tackle to enable him to sell it cheaper to the working man angler, rods and reels marked JW Martin very rarely comes up in the market!
Maybe it was made so cheap and poorly, not much has survived!
I came upon 2 rods at a local auction last week, where one is marked JW Martin, the other although similar is not marked so I would say is not.
The rod is 11ft 6" long in 3 pieces
The butt has a hardwood handle of which half has cork sheet, it is a lovely tiger pattern whole cane, middle is ditto cane with a greenheart tip.
The rings are a first for me and looking in the Nottingham style book (1885) are described as guard safety rings in brass, with a flat steel loop on the tip, it has a brass butt cap which is stamped
"JW Martin & Son"
" Trent Otter"
It is in poor well used condition, and will need some work, or I could just keep it as it is!
In Practical Fishing (1906) he describes an ideal Nottingham rod thus;
The butt and the middle are selected pieces of East Indian cane, with a swelled and balanced handle grip, while the tops are made from a length of good tough greenheart........ The rings should be of the "Bells Life" bridge pattern or guard safety will do as well.
So it appears to be as described as above circa 1906, but all his books from the 1900's have adverts JW Martin, Seymour St, London, then later JW Martin & Co, but not & Son, any ideas?
Here are some photo's
Stamped butt cap
Wire guard rings
Maybe it was made so cheap and poorly, not much has survived!
I came upon 2 rods at a local auction last week, where one is marked JW Martin, the other although similar is not marked so I would say is not.
The rod is 11ft 6" long in 3 pieces
The butt has a hardwood handle of which half has cork sheet, it is a lovely tiger pattern whole cane, middle is ditto cane with a greenheart tip.
The rings are a first for me and looking in the Nottingham style book (1885) are described as guard safety rings in brass, with a flat steel loop on the tip, it has a brass butt cap which is stamped
"JW Martin & Son"
" Trent Otter"
It is in poor well used condition, and will need some work, or I could just keep it as it is!
In Practical Fishing (1906) he describes an ideal Nottingham rod thus;
The butt and the middle are selected pieces of East Indian cane, with a swelled and balanced handle grip, while the tops are made from a length of good tough greenheart........ The rings should be of the "Bells Life" bridge pattern or guard safety will do as well.
So it appears to be as described as above circa 1906, but all his books from the 1900's have adverts JW Martin, Seymour St, London, then later JW Martin & Co, but not & Son, any ideas?
Here are some photo's
Stamped butt cap
Wire guard rings