Any fans of Modern Retro Gear?

[Dales]

I know there are plenty of fans of vintage fishing tackle but do you think gadgets from the last twenty or thirty years will become as collectable or are they even collectable now. Does any one still enjoy using tackle from the eighties and ninties?

 

We had a thread not so long ago around swing tips and every one seemed to recall using them fondly and it seems some still do but does any one still use their Sundridge Optonics and Monkey Climbers.

 

I found my old Optonics the other day while having a sort out and had a nostalga moment I opened them up out of curiosity to see whether I had them set up with a two or four vane wheel and added batteries and they still worked fine. But boy did the Magnetonic make some noise, my standard Optonic was rather calm in comparison. Well after having a good play around with them and packing them back in to there little plastic boxs, I started to wonder will they ever become a cult classic to be sold at specialist tackle auctions

 

Has any one got any ideas about what may become a much sort after piece of tackle from recent years?

[Dick Dastardly]

A lot all ready is Dales! Mind you there have also been several items of tackle that have enjoyed a brief period of commanding silly prices once they've been no longer available but have now "gone off the boil"!

 

ABU Cardinal 55's (made popular by Kevin Maddocks recommendation in Carp Fever) went for prices almost quadruple their original RRP during the 90's the same with original Delkim conversions! Both are still sold in excess of the original RRP but have "calmed down" a bit now as their popularity/cult status has declined.

 

ABU 501's 506's and 507's are still very sought after and "buoyant" in the second hand market.

 

Rod wise our Steve Burke's "Fledger" rods are allways snapped up when they become available. ABU cranked handle lure rods (the old Speedlock type) are also swapping hands for good money.

 

Pre 1980 ABU multipliers fluctuate a lot (a real high spot being in the 90's when good examples of some models were selling at crazy prices to both collectors and tournament casting fans) Several models still command very high prices but in general the average price has dropped from £75 a reel to around £50.

 

Hardy tackle (both rods and reels) appears to be collectable even if its current!

 

Carp gear has become quite popular to collect as well (no doubt due to the massive growth in this area) I'm often asked for examples of some of the "classic rods of their time" from the 70's to the 80's.Strangely though considering this growth in "carp tackle" collecting a lot of pre 80's gear such as Heron bite alarms etc doesn't seem to be that popular! The exception being any cane rod with Dick Walkers name on it (all though this seems to be fading a bit now) Most things like the Herons are brought by guys of my age who kind of buy them out of nostalgia!

 

Investment wise reels are the better bet rather than rods (Its allways been this way and generally accepted that reels are seen as more collectable simply as they are easier to store and display than rods!) and anyone who follows the centrepin threads on here will have seen that most of the custom made copies of "classic" reels soon gain value (even if it is just people wanting to "jump" the waiting list).

 

Any of the Garlands/Realtree etc camo "limited edition" carp gear also often sells second hand at prices higher than the RRP but I'm not sure if this will make them true collectibles of the future or not yet.

 

Winfield (Woolworth's own brand) tackle from the 70's has quite a high following among the collectors as well and is an amazingly ahead of its time range of gear.

 

I some how doubt much of the modern "Made in China" gear will ever attract much of a following though! Great value and perfectly usable but just not innovative enough or of a high enough quality to ever be collectable I would have thought.........but who knows!

[RUDD]

When they first cam out I secured an Aventa pro (Okuma centerpin) Brand new for £60.00 off ebay.

Within weeks they were going for £80 and I now see that new ones sell for £120 - £150!!!!!!!

Orignal Abu Multilpiers (made in Sweden not China) are very collectable amoungst beach anglers.

[chavender]

i did recently find my old backbiter alarm ,it was a bit battered and the dayglo polly ball looked like a pike had been chomping on it .put a battery too it ,but it didn't work ,but they're hardly hi tec ,so wouldn't take much too get going again .if i fixed it up ,i could see me using it again .

[Ken L]

I some how doubt much of the modern "Made in China" gear will ever attract much of a following though! Great value and perfectly usable but just not innovative enough or of a high enough quality to ever be collectable I would have thought.........but who knows!

 

There's a very active market for Van Staal reels that were made in the USA prior to the shifting of production to China. I suspect that there will be other examples that will follow a similar pattern.

 

There's a few lures that fit the desscription too. Storm Jointed Thunder Sticks were treated as items of reverence by the bass plugging fraternity as recently as a couple of years ago but a combination of Storm deciding to make them again and an influx of superior lures from the far east very quickly killed off the mystique.

[Anderoo]

Fox rods are worth keeping an eye on. They have a habit of making a really, really good rod for a really short period of time, meaning that they are almost instantly collectable! I have a Fox barbel rod that I've been trying to get another of second hand for ages, still with no luck. They come up on ebay very occasionally but for a lot of money. Other discontinued Fox barbel rods go for amazing second hand prices, simply as they are so good and very hard to get hold of.

[Dick Dastardly]

i did recently find my old backbiter alarm ,it was a bit battered and the dayglo polly ball looked like a pike had been chomping on it .put a battery too it ,but it didn't work ,but they're hardly hi tec ,so wouldn't take much too get going again .if i fixed it up ,i could see me using it again .

 

 

Oi! I still use those! Ok mine are slightly modified but I seriously doubt I will ever change them.

[Dick Dastardly]

Fox rods are worth keeping an eye on. They have a habit of making a really, really good rod for a really short period of time, meaning that they are almost instantly collectable! I have a Fox barbel rod that I've been trying to get another of second hand for ages, still with no luck. They come up on ebay very occasionally but for a lot of money. Other discontinued Fox barbel rods go for amazing second hand prices, simply as they are so good and very hard to get hold of.

 

Its surprising how many tackle manufacturers come up with a really good rod or reel and then discontinue it! Now I understand that they bring out new stuff so that people replace their present one (so increasing the turnover for the manufacturer) but why do they discontinue a model and go to all the expense of re tooling etc when the existing model is still be used by the original buyer and sought after for prices in excess of the RRP by others? Am I missing something or is it simply the big companies are not that in touch with what is going on? (and I find that hard to believe!)

[Dick Dastardly]

Fox rods are worth keeping an eye on. They have a habit of making a really, really good rod for a really short period of time, meaning that they are almost instantly collectable! I have a Fox barbel rod that I've been trying to get another of second hand for ages, still with no luck. They come up on ebay very occasionally but for a lot of money. Other discontinued Fox barbel rods go for amazing second hand prices, simply as they are so good and very hard to get hold of.

 

Yet saying that it is only a few of their models and I regularly pick up really good examples of many of their now superseded carp rods for next to nothing! The trick (I suppose) isn't in working out which of their tackle (same for any manufacturer really!) is good but more what will be seen as "good" by the masses in future years!

 

Now if I could do that all the time I would be driving round in a brand new Range Rover Sport and not a 15 year old DSE! (oh and afford to be able to run it!)

 

I've allways found fishing tackle nearly as (in fact maybe just as!) interesting as fishing itself so have allways took a keen interest in it but still get "caught out" by items that suddenly become popular.I was only chatting about this with the Burkester last night and I said then I will never fail to be amazed how items of relatively poor design and mediocre quality suddenly achieve almost cult status! Its certainly hats of to the manufacturers marketing men's skills that's for sure.

[Tigger]

There's loads of pretty recent rods and reels that are very desirable for collectors. One example of a reel is the abu Suveran which sold for £160 in the shops in 2001 and I've seen boxed examples reach over £500 !!! Also the Browning Revolver centrepin which isn't very old that retailed for around £225 and reaches over £600 now, I suppose it's down to scarcity of a quality item and a high demand that causes these high prices.

Edited April 14, 2011 by Tigger