AT Last the 'super' monarch (intrepid thing)

[chesters1]

No not a film ! And not technically an intrepid !

When i first started collecting intrepids i kept hearing references to a monarch super which i presumed was a upgraded monarch reel!

Could not find it on any advert nor catalogue but one of my ex morritt employees told me it existed ,unfortunately he died a few months later so the trail went dead!

Anyway i did a short bit in one of the more specilised mags and a chap from Australia sent me a picture of an enlarged monarch box with a small paper sticker on it saying 'super' he said though the reel was just a normal monarch with a plastic clamshell box .

Years later another bit of info came my way saying there was no super monarch reel the super bit was the clamshell inner box (several reels of the same age had them) and a spare spool so the 'super' bit was the packaging lol

About 5 years ago i found a larger sized box and within a blue clamshell box and the reel with a spare spool all that was missing was the sticker .

Today fresh from Ebay came the obviously quite rare larger box with the word 'super' actually printed on it! So i guess the sticker was an intermediate box before the fully printed version came out but as the box had to be bigger than the original box why wasnt printed like the third version from the start?

The two latter boxes are different colours from the original one so why the word 'super' was missing is a mystery probably never to be revealed.the second larger box had a blue clamshell inner box todays had a clear version if it goes to type there are grey versions for the intrepid standard so perhaps a grey one for the monarch ? And ofcourse a blue one for the standard ..groan!

When i decided to start collecting them i didnt realise how complicated it would be but i think currently i have probably (until some other info pops up) actually collected all the monarch reels and boxes issued ......but dont quote me!

 

Its not an easy task i know all the reels they are catalogued but the boxes were never mentioned ,last month i bought a gladding version of the super-twin the gladding versions throughout the intrepid reels have either a straight line along the box or a wiggly one so the new box is a straight line so i presume out there is a wiggly one waiting for me? ,the first box was an expensive display box the second a blue one which again seems typical through the range pre gladding (the blue one when sealey issued them) so in essence i have a fair few still to find but everyone gets me closer well until some other one is spotted and the search restarts

 

Unfortunately my collecting has included the intrepid tradename which carried on (still is) after the original factory closed and theres little i can find about them at all between gladding and leeda but they keep popping up so if i can they get added to the collection but none were made here just imports with intrepid logo's but to make things difficult they get added to the pile lol

 

Unfortunately for some reason they are becoming expensive as collectors try to get hold of the rarer versions so i have to bide my time to get one or as today spot the word super in a picture of what is now overlooked as the ordinary version are common thus already in most collections ,obviously collectors glancing at the little picture presumed it was just a run of the mill monarch and box so didnt enlarge it

Edited November 30, 2017 by chesters1

[Martin56]

When I was still at secondary school, my mate (with whom I also fished) had an Intrepid Black Prince - paired up with a Sealey Blue Match rod.

 

His family had NO angling background so he had to Busk it a bit from scratch.

 

I however had the advantage of all the good (but not top notch) gear my Dad passed on to me.

 

I was brought up with the "PIN" - a narrow drum "Speedia" & my Leger reel was a Grice & Young, the very same one which I'm still using today.

[chesters1]

I used to use the blue match rods ,my mum got them from the freemans catalogue

[Martin56]

Yes, His mam would have prob' done same.