Martin L. Bradford was one of the most important tackle merchants in early American history, running his shop "The Sign of the Angler" out of Boston from the 1840s up until his death. I ran some early Bradford ads in my recent history of the fish hook.
Tom Penniston, a noted collector, posted a query on the auction that was my exact first thought--this is way too clean to be real. But the owners have a very solid rationale, and if they do have pre-restoration photos that show it to have wear before it was cleaned, this will be an auction to remember.
UPDATE: The auction ended at $7467, which from what experts have noted, is well below the true market value of such an item.
-- Dr. Todd
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