Because it was brass with a ventilated lid, I'd always fancied that this nineteenth century container by Girodon & Montet of Lyon, was a bait box.
It's hinged lid secures extremely firmly with a spring-loaded catch. The ventilation is also adjustable - I'd thought perhaps to allow for the different escapology skills of it's inhabitants?
I've recently discovered though, that it's connection to fishing is somewhat more tenuous - as it is actually a chauffrette (a portable hand warmer).
Could the likes of Alfred Jardine and Henry Leonidas Rolfe have used such a device to stave off the chill during a winter's day piking? Just possibly . . . . .
A French fancy . . .
- John Milford
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A French fancy . . .
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Last edited by John Milford on Thu Apr 06, 2023 11:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- EricW
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Re: A French fancy . . .
Love these old odds and sods, John. I recently acquired a copper bait box which was supposedly once used by the medical profession for keeping leeches in. There must be any number of wooden toolboxes that were once pole fishermen's 'thrones', I just wish I could find one. Anglers have always been resourceful and your box may well have served both purposes at different times in its long life. Nice find.
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Here are some of our fishing films that you may enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrUkLb ... -bz8H_vr7A
- John Milford
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Re: A French fancy . . .
As you say Eric, anglers down the ages were pretty resourceful at 'repurposing' all manner of stuff.
Old leather cases and boxes for collars, brushes, shaving kit etc - even telescope tubes - were used for storing reels, tackle or as a float tube.
I recall those old, sectioned 'Elastoplast' tins being particularly coveted when I was a lad - the forerunner of the 'Fox box'!
Old leather cases and boxes for collars, brushes, shaving kit etc - even telescope tubes - were used for storing reels, tackle or as a float tube.
I recall those old, sectioned 'Elastoplast' tins being particularly coveted when I was a lad - the forerunner of the 'Fox box'!
A seeker of "the fell tyrant of the liquid plain".