Could I have your opinions please?

[chavender]

paul4 do you have any info on the origional Allcocks match aerial...........what year they where first manufactured and the year they stopped being manufactured ? Also is there any way you can tell what year a reel was made ?

 

 

tigger i've dug this out for you ,i nabbed it of a old site thats nomore

 

<H1>

<H1>The Allcock Match Aerial.

By Ian Rotherham

 

 

The Match 'Aerial' centrepin has a history which can be traced right back to 1896, when Henry Coxon developed the idea after being inspired by the 'new' spoked bicycle wheel. Henry Coxons' original reel had a wooden back and ebonite drum; this developed, with the engineering expertise of Samuel Allcock, for a period of more than seventy years.

 

The Match Aerial was the last of these reels to bear the Allcocks' name, although the second reel to be named the 'Match Aerial'; because of this it is sometimes called the 'New Match Aerial'. It was produced from 1965 to 1971 (Shakespeare have recently reintroduced the Aerial name on a series of rods and reels)

 

Noris Shakespeare's 1967 Allcocks Anglers Guide describes the reel so:

 

THE 'MATCH AERIAL'

The ultimate in centre-pin reels

 

Allcocks "Match Aerial" will appeal particularly to the angler who specialises in long trotting, as the ultra-lightweight drum will yield line at the least pull from a small float in a gentle current.

 

With the pins spaced only 1/4-inch from the rim of the drum, the recovery rate is obviously very high, and the 4 1/2-inch overall diameter ensures ample line capacity for any appropriate use (i.e. over 200 yards of 8 lb test monofilament).

 

Clearance between the rear flange of the drum has been reduced to permit the use of the finest monofilament lines, and a new non-fouling check button has also been incorporated with this in mind.

 

Spindle and bush are ground to the finest tolerances and the balance is so perfect that an entirely new level in freedom of rotation has been achieved.

 

(Endorsed by Billy Lane as "The finest trotting reel ever made").

 

The price in 1967 - 113/6 or about £5.67!

 

</H1></H1><H1 align=left>

 

not sure how accorate it is though

</H1>

[Guest tigger]

Chavender, thank's for that m8.

[paul4]

Chavender, thank's for that m8.

 

Well done Steve, better than I could have done/found

 

paul4

[chavender]

actually i found it (a saved html page from 2005) whilst looking for something else ,i have a nasty habit of saving stuff that i might need one day or for future reference ,problem is i'm always forgetting where i put things or what i've actually saved .at least that little nugget was usefull

[Rusty]

Had a fascinating conversation with Fred Crouch this afternoon. I had a problem with my reel and Fred phoned to sort it out (which he has without quibble) so I took the opportunity to ask him about the history of his replicas. He’s sounds a great bloke, certainly one of life’s colourful characters.

 

Apparently shortly after acquiring the rights to manufacture Allcock reels during the late 60’s Shakespeare decided that the market for centrepins was on the decline and they were going to drop them from the range.

 

Fred knew the right people at Shakespeare and negotiated a fairly informal agreement that allowed him to continue manufacturing the reels but not under the Allcock name (not sure how Shakespeare were branding them prior to this). Off he went to the factory to collect the tooling, materials and any manufactured components…about three weeks too late, they’d all been disposed of.

 

Undeterred he then commissioned expensive new tooling to replicate the leatherette finish as it was called. After selling a few of the leatherette reels a flaw in the tooling caused it to crack, the manufacturer of the tooling had gone belly up and Fred had no recourse to recompense. Funding another set was out of the question and so he started turning the reel backplates on his lathe, hence the smooth backed reels.

 

It’s not clear at which point he lost dibs on the word “Match” but he did confirm that some original Allcock reels were fitted with the twin vane ratchet knob. He's also unsure as to how many leatherette reels he produced.

 

Seems the only sure fire way of identifying an original is the Allcock name on the disc label and even then Shakespeare may have made it.

 

His opinion of fixed spool reels is very entertaining but not really printable.

[Dick Dastardly]

I bet that was well interesting Rusty thanks for sharing it with us.

[tincatinca]

Thanks Rusty, that has certainly cleared up a few points for me but it also puts a few question marks as to when is an Allcock match aerial a Shakespeare. An interesting dilema for the purist collectors.

[Dick Dastardly]

Thanks Rusty, that has certainly cleared up a few points for me but it also puts a few question marks as to when is an Allcock match aerial a Shakespeare. An interesting dilema for the purist collectors.

 

Ah come on Rusty thats an easy one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are ALL Match Aerials when your selling them (especially on FleBay) but Inferior Shakespeare copies when buying

[tincatinca]

Ah come on Rusty thats an easy one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are ALL Match Aerials when your selling them (especially on FleBay) but Inferior Shakespeare copies when buying

 

Nice one

[Rusty]

They are ALL Match Aerials when your selling them (especially on FleBay) but Inferior Shakespeare copies when buying

 

Indeed, the fella selling item 180303337069 is clearly fed up with people like me.