Showing posts with label editorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editorial. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
An Epistle on Why There is No Advertising on this Blog
Ah, the internet. As someone who’s been producing content used on the internet since … well, pretty much the beginning of the internet. But I never really understood the incredible levels of desperation many advertisers have to find a targeted market until I began the Fishing for History Blog around seven years ago, about the same time I took over the Classic Fly Rod Forum (historically one of the largest fly fishing web sites on the internet).
One of the things I decided early on was that I would not take advertising on either one, despite the fact that it is a nearly daily occurrence to be contacted from companies seeking to advertise their wares on both. I never mind the tackle industry folk; after all, these are fishing sites. But they make up about 5% of the advertisers who want to promote their products on my sites. It’s rather remarkable the array of companies willing to shill products to you while your going through the Friday Funhouse or reading the latest from Elissa Ruddick. Everything from male enhancement to weight loss to condo buying, I’ve seen them all come through with their pitches.
And I’ve turned them all down. Why? Do I feel like I’m too good for it, that I am morally superior to them? Not really. I just hate advertising, especially where it’s not needed or wanted. Besides, if you had to watch an ad every time you tried to read something here, I would guess you’d come by less and less. So I keep it ad free. Would I ever take on an advertiser? Who knows? All I know is that I’m happy with the way things are now.
John Oliver is a brilliant British comedian with a funny Sunday night TV show. He recently took on the subject of internet advertising, and in so doing, outlined the myriad ways in which I hate on-line advertising. Take a moment and watch it, and ask yourself, is this what you want to see here? On Joe’s Board? On the Fly Rod Forum?
It sums up my feelings exactly.
— Dr. Todd
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
34 Minutes and the Nature of the Web: My Thoughts on Lang's
It's been an interesting few weeks around here, but last night was surreal. Of course, it was Lang's Store night, and like so many others, I anticipated it all day long. Then, at 9:00 pm EST, I went to Lang's Store and attempted to access the listings. No luck. Nothing. I waited a minute or two, thinking it was overloaded from so many people trying to access it. No luck again.
That's when I started getting texts and emails from others about the fact that they could not get in either. I went to Joe's Board where earlier, at exactly 9:03, the first person posted that they were having the same problem. Then another. Then a third, and finally a whole litany of people posting about the frustration.
Like some, I kept trying, and even thought that I might not have a proper login so I created a new login identity. Finally (we are told at 9:34) the listings went up. Bingo! I cruised through the reel section and ended up buying two of the three items I most wanted -- by the way, whomever bought the Thos. E. Wilson reel in the box, drop me a note! Then I checked out and all was well in the world.
Except I kept getting emails and calls and seeing posts about how angry people were. My first thought was, yes, I understand your frustration. But then my second thought was…
Really???
The more I thought about the more silly it all seemed. Are we so impatient as a society that 34 minutes is the end of the world? Are we so unforgiving as a group that we can't accept the fact that, despite everyone's best efforts, sometimes things don't go to plan?
Case in point. I've been trying to make a huge launch myself (hinted at here) but guess what? The technology I have tried to use has broken THREE TIMES. I hope the fourth time is a charm.
And you know what? As frustrating as it is, it is a fact of life -- like traffic jams and illness, you can't predict what will put a monkey wrench into your plans.
And guess what? It happens ALL THE TIME on the internet. Take this past weekend, where a fledgling mixed martial arts organization named Invicta FC (specializing in female MMA fighters) launched their first Pay-Per-View on-line streaming card. Now keep in mind this organization had presented THREE major fight cards for free leading up to this. They are run by incredibly smart people and used a highly reputable company to host their internet streaming and PPV purchases.
Then just as the card launched Saturday night, the servers crashed. People paid and could not view the fights. Mass chaos ensued, and the president of Invicta stepped in after about 30 minutes and removed the paywall, allowing everyone to view the fights for free.
My point is that this happens all the time, and we need to be more forgiving and understanding, ESPECIALLY when people step up and do the right things to correct the technology failures.
In this message from Lang's posted to Joe's Board, John and Debbie Ganung explained what went wrong. I quote:
The issue started on the Friday before the listing when the Store site experienced server hardware failure. Our server provider, Verio/ITS, completely replaced the server by Saturday night and assured us the site would be able to handle any amount of traffic. They were obviously wrong.
Considering what was necessary to get the site working properly, we should all be amazed it only delayed the launch for 34 minutes.
The sign of a successful company is learning from mistakes. What did Lang's learn from this? I quote again:
Due to this and previous server/site failures, we have decided to completely scrap the site, leave our current server provider, and start from scratch. We will start building a new Lang's Store in February. Technology has come a long way since the first listing in 2008 - it is long past time to find a better way to offer this type of online listing. We still steadfastly believe in the concept of a "virtual show". From customer feedback, this is a buying venue most enjoy very much, especially our newest collectors - so we will try again, hopefully with success.
Note the important words--TRY and HOPE. That's really all we can expect in this world, is it not?
There was a recent post, again on Joe's Board, from user Todd Marquart I wish everyone would read.
In it, he states:
We all collect relics from a bygone era...a time when our forebears swept their boats forward with oars and not motors...when a backlash was a mainstay and when time was, well, slower. Tea kettles whistled when they were ready, motor cars didn't need sensors to need if the sensors were sensing and kettles brewed up wonderful meals fit for a king...Time and again I see needless posts on this board pertaining to impatience.
Patience. Yes, yes, and more yes -- it's something we ALL could use more of. If 34 minutes is too long for you to wait, then I'm not sure anything I say will be able to get through to you. We live in such a "now now now" society, that I guess the idea of patience is itself slowly dying, even among folks who should know better.
My old man has always had great pithy quotes -- some original, some widely used -- which I've basically used to guide my life. Perhaps the best one is among the shortest, and I'm sure it was learned while he served in the U.S. Army.
Shit happens -- deal with it.
I am nowhere near as brilliantly succinct as my father. So I would add the following twist to his words of wisdom, even at the risk of becoming overly verbose (which I suspect is exactly what my father thinks I have a tendency to be):
Shit happens -- deal with it (patiently and with understanding and forgiveness).
Even if you have to endure an interminable 34 minutes.
-- Dr. Todd
Thursday, December 20, 2012
A Short Editorial
I try to keep the subject matter on the blog strictly to fishing and tackle history. After all, there are many, many places to go to discuss politics, or movies, or anything under the sun. We are serious here about chronicling our fishing history and heritage.
However, I am going to break with this tradition this once to address an issue that has recently been thrust into my life in a big way -- our neglect of returning war veterans.
Some of you know by day I teach history at the local university. I have had many students who have become combat veterans, and have had just as many who have returned from combat to take their place in my class among their fellow students. The juxtaposition of, for example, being in a firefight in Kandahar and studying for finals could not be more stark.
One of the problems facing so many returning veterans is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a bewildering complex thing that is not unique to returning veterans, but which afflicts many veterans who have seen combat.
The problem is that far too many returning veterans are not getting the medical and psychological help you need. Did you know that some studies suggest one out of ever four homeless person in this nation is a U.S. military veteran? It is believed that the number of homeless veterans has decreased by 1/3 in the past two years from 90,000 to 60,000.
THIS NUMBER IS STILL NOWHERE NEAR ACCEPTABLE.
It does not even take into account the huge number of veterans who badly need psychological services but have had to wait interminably long for the help they need. The Department of Veterans Affairs has admitted they are woefully understaffed for psychological services and have hired 1600 new staff. But in these days of looming budget cuts, it is always such things as the VA that seem to be on the chopping block.
So what can you do to help? Well, first of all you can write your Congressman and tell him that you think that our returning veterans deserve access to the best medical and psychological services available. Second, you can read up on the issue at places like Helping Our Veterans and other similar web sites. Third, you can do a lot by simply raising awareness of the fact that we are not doing enough for our returning veterans.
Watching a military veteran in the wake of a PTSD episode is a crushing thing; I know this personally. We ask our armed services to risk the ultimate sacrifice on a daily basis; we put them in harm's way; sometimes we send them home with deep physical and psychological wounds. And when they return, how can we deny them the services they so richly earned on the battlefield defending the freedoms most of us take for granted?
We can't. It's as simple as that. Do your part; it will make your day, and it might just help to change a life.
-- Dr. Todd
However, I am going to break with this tradition this once to address an issue that has recently been thrust into my life in a big way -- our neglect of returning war veterans.
Some of you know by day I teach history at the local university. I have had many students who have become combat veterans, and have had just as many who have returned from combat to take their place in my class among their fellow students. The juxtaposition of, for example, being in a firefight in Kandahar and studying for finals could not be more stark.
One of the problems facing so many returning veterans is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a bewildering complex thing that is not unique to returning veterans, but which afflicts many veterans who have seen combat.
The problem is that far too many returning veterans are not getting the medical and psychological help you need. Did you know that some studies suggest one out of ever four homeless person in this nation is a U.S. military veteran? It is believed that the number of homeless veterans has decreased by 1/3 in the past two years from 90,000 to 60,000.
THIS NUMBER IS STILL NOWHERE NEAR ACCEPTABLE.
It does not even take into account the huge number of veterans who badly need psychological services but have had to wait interminably long for the help they need. The Department of Veterans Affairs has admitted they are woefully understaffed for psychological services and have hired 1600 new staff. But in these days of looming budget cuts, it is always such things as the VA that seem to be on the chopping block.
So what can you do to help? Well, first of all you can write your Congressman and tell him that you think that our returning veterans deserve access to the best medical and psychological services available. Second, you can read up on the issue at places like Helping Our Veterans and other similar web sites. Third, you can do a lot by simply raising awareness of the fact that we are not doing enough for our returning veterans.
Watching a military veteran in the wake of a PTSD episode is a crushing thing; I know this personally. We ask our armed services to risk the ultimate sacrifice on a daily basis; we put them in harm's way; sometimes we send them home with deep physical and psychological wounds. And when they return, how can we deny them the services they so richly earned on the battlefield defending the freedoms most of us take for granted?
We can't. It's as simple as that. Do your part; it will make your day, and it might just help to change a life.
-- Dr. Todd
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
EDITORIAL: Rethinking the NFLCC Nationals
EDITORIAL: Rethinking the NFLCC Nationals
First of all, let me say that the Fort Wayne Nationals was as well-run and organized as any National show I have ever attended. Massive thanks go out to Dave Saalfrank and all of the show organizers and volunteers. It was awesome and I really enjoyed all aspects of the show. I am really looking forward to returning to Fort Wayne.
What I think needs to be addressed has nothing to do with the amazing show put on by the volunteers like Dave and his team, or the fine folks in Kansas City next year.
What needs to be rethought is the NFLCC National Show itself.
I began thinking about this on Friday afternoon at exactly 2:30 p.m. while sitting on the show floor. I was at my table when a brand new NFLCC member stopped by to buy a book. After brief introductions, I asked him what he thought of his first Nationals. His response?
"I thought they said this was the biggest show of them all? Where are all the people? And why do half of the tables have sheets over them?"
I had no answer for him. At 2:30 on Friday afternoon--with the show floor open until 7:00 that evening--there were less than 100 people on the entire show floor. A show floor with 500 sold tables...
Contrast that with Thursday at the same time, when there were far more people and the aisles were crowded from one end to the other.
Then contrast that with Saturday, when almost everyone had pulled up stakes (including myself) and vacated the floor by noon, despite the show being open until five p.m.
The question you have to ask is: WHY?
The answer is complex, but includes a confluence of reasons: exhaustion from room trading, conflicts with the tackle seminars, people picking up and leaving for other shows, etc.
All I know is that if you arrive at the Nationals after Thursday, you are not really seeing the NFLCC in all its glory.
And that is a damn shame.
So how can we fix this?
I don't have all the answers, but I would like to offer what I think is a solution. It has been arrived at after much discussion with other collectors, and after a talk with outgoing NFLCC president Byron Parker, who offered very valid and cogent criticism. I appreciate very much his input.
So here's what I think is wrong with the NFLCC Nationals: it's long since outlived being a three day show.
I believe the NFLCC nationals would be far better served moving to a Friday-Saturday two day show. Let me explain.
If the NFLCC Show moved to Friday-Saturday 8:00-6:00, I believe we would not have the absences we normally see on Friday afternoon (Saturday being universally seen as a "dead" day).
What about Thursday, you might ask. Would we lose the bargaining power with hotels/convention centers by ditching a day?
How about we rearrange the Nationals in this way.
1) Move the Members Meeting (and Executive Board meeting) to Thursday morning/early afternoon, to be followed DIRECTLY by the seminars. I attended the great seminar by Warren Platt and Bill Sonnett on fishing antique tackle, and afterwards had a dozen people say they would have gone BUT THEY DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE THEIR TABLES.
2) Move the Auction to Saturday Evening after the show ends. This as much as anything would encourage the NFLCC members to stay Saturday night, as well as potentially bring in more auction items. (By the way congrats to Brent Vonderheide and his team on a great auction, it was amazing to watch and raised nearly $50,000).
So to recap, I believe these changes would make for a much stronger floor show. It would:
-- encourage members to stay on the floor both days, as it would have a lot of traffic (from different groups) on both Friday and Saturday.
-- encourage members who have to work during the week to attend Friday afternoon/evening, as they would still have all day Saturday on the floor and the auction to look forward to…
-- it would make Thursday night the granddaddy of all room trading evenings, and one in which most members who book a three-day weekend could attend.
-- it would free up members to attend the seminars without fear of leaving their tables unattended.
-- It would turn the NFLCC auction into THE EVENT of the weekend, and encourage everyone to stick around Saturday for the duration of the show as they would stay for the auction.
-- Allow break down beginning an hour before closing on Saturday, and allow enough time so that people who have tables can still make the auction.
I would love to hear opinions, both pro and con, on this plan. Frankly, I think it would work a ton better than what we already have, with half-empty shows after lunch on Friday and all day Saturday.
Your turn…
-- Dr. Todd
First of all, let me say that the Fort Wayne Nationals was as well-run and organized as any National show I have ever attended. Massive thanks go out to Dave Saalfrank and all of the show organizers and volunteers. It was awesome and I really enjoyed all aspects of the show. I am really looking forward to returning to Fort Wayne.
What I think needs to be addressed has nothing to do with the amazing show put on by the volunteers like Dave and his team, or the fine folks in Kansas City next year.
What needs to be rethought is the NFLCC National Show itself.
I began thinking about this on Friday afternoon at exactly 2:30 p.m. while sitting on the show floor. I was at my table when a brand new NFLCC member stopped by to buy a book. After brief introductions, I asked him what he thought of his first Nationals. His response?
"I thought they said this was the biggest show of them all? Where are all the people? And why do half of the tables have sheets over them?"
I had no answer for him. At 2:30 on Friday afternoon--with the show floor open until 7:00 that evening--there were less than 100 people on the entire show floor. A show floor with 500 sold tables...
Contrast that with Thursday at the same time, when there were far more people and the aisles were crowded from one end to the other.
Then contrast that with Saturday, when almost everyone had pulled up stakes (including myself) and vacated the floor by noon, despite the show being open until five p.m.
The question you have to ask is: WHY?
The answer is complex, but includes a confluence of reasons: exhaustion from room trading, conflicts with the tackle seminars, people picking up and leaving for other shows, etc.
All I know is that if you arrive at the Nationals after Thursday, you are not really seeing the NFLCC in all its glory.
And that is a damn shame.
So how can we fix this?
I don't have all the answers, but I would like to offer what I think is a solution. It has been arrived at after much discussion with other collectors, and after a talk with outgoing NFLCC president Byron Parker, who offered very valid and cogent criticism. I appreciate very much his input.
So here's what I think is wrong with the NFLCC Nationals: it's long since outlived being a three day show.
I believe the NFLCC nationals would be far better served moving to a Friday-Saturday two day show. Let me explain.
If the NFLCC Show moved to Friday-Saturday 8:00-6:00, I believe we would not have the absences we normally see on Friday afternoon (Saturday being universally seen as a "dead" day).
What about Thursday, you might ask. Would we lose the bargaining power with hotels/convention centers by ditching a day?
How about we rearrange the Nationals in this way.
1) Move the Members Meeting (and Executive Board meeting) to Thursday morning/early afternoon, to be followed DIRECTLY by the seminars. I attended the great seminar by Warren Platt and Bill Sonnett on fishing antique tackle, and afterwards had a dozen people say they would have gone BUT THEY DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE THEIR TABLES.
2) Move the Auction to Saturday Evening after the show ends. This as much as anything would encourage the NFLCC members to stay Saturday night, as well as potentially bring in more auction items. (By the way congrats to Brent Vonderheide and his team on a great auction, it was amazing to watch and raised nearly $50,000).
So to recap, I believe these changes would make for a much stronger floor show. It would:
-- encourage members to stay on the floor both days, as it would have a lot of traffic (from different groups) on both Friday and Saturday.
-- encourage members who have to work during the week to attend Friday afternoon/evening, as they would still have all day Saturday on the floor and the auction to look forward to…
-- it would make Thursday night the granddaddy of all room trading evenings, and one in which most members who book a three-day weekend could attend.
-- it would free up members to attend the seminars without fear of leaving their tables unattended.
-- It would turn the NFLCC auction into THE EVENT of the weekend, and encourage everyone to stick around Saturday for the duration of the show as they would stay for the auction.
-- Allow break down beginning an hour before closing on Saturday, and allow enough time so that people who have tables can still make the auction.
I would love to hear opinions, both pro and con, on this plan. Frankly, I think it would work a ton better than what we already have, with half-empty shows after lunch on Friday and all day Saturday.
Your turn…
-- Dr. Todd
Thursday, November 25, 2010
7 Things to Be Thankful For Today (Part IV)
7 Things to Be Thankful For Today (Part IV)
For the Fourth consecutive year--2007's Missive is Here, 2008's Follow Up is Here, and 2009's is here
--I present to you the 7 Things to be Thankful For Today.
1) Patience. It has been a trying time around the Larson household of late. Surgery on my mouth, three operations on my foot, a wife in the hospital with pneumonia, a family with the flu all at once...it's been as rough of a four month span as I can ever remember from a health standpoint. But I've rediscovered the lost art of patience. I am behind on virtually everything in my life, from grading term papers to books, but rather than stress out over this and produce less than adequate work, I've come to the realization that all things will come with time. I can't make up for eight lost weeks of work in one day, or one week, or one month. But it will be made up for, with patience.
2) Books. I love books. That goes without saying, considering I spend virtually all my non-teaching time editing, laying out, preflighting, stocking, shipping, and promoting books for the Whitefish Press. But I do this because of my deep and unabiding love of books themselves. Every week I seem to discover hidden gems, from the writings of Irish novelist Maurice Walsh to the wonderfully hand-written work of John Betts. So many books, so little time. But without an hour snatched here or there to read, I would go insane.
3) Kindness. I was overwhelmed with the number of people who wrote me after my little missive about my father was published. I was so happy that other people enjoyed it, and took time write me about their own experiences with their own fathers. Many of these people I did not know, but were kind enough to take time to tell me their stores. Kindness, the most underrated of all human actions.
4) ORCA. I've been a member of ORCA about a decade, but in that time it has grown to become a part of my life. I love the NFLCC (as those who've read my previous missives know) but I also love ORCA and fishing reels. I am not one who believes you have to have allegiance to one or the other. They both, in their own way, promote our hobby and heritage in the same way. But ORCA's primary focus is fishing reels, and there is no other place quite like it. So many intelligent, analytical minds, it is a great organization and one that I recommend highly to anyone who has even a passing interest in reels and fishing history.
5) Vintage Rods. I love old rods of all kinds. I started collecting 19th century non-bamboo wooden rods a long time ago, then naturally moved into the realm of the split cane rod, which has become a passion. I enjoy researching the history of metal rods, too. Lately I've taken a deep interest in something I fished my whole life, which is fiberglass fly rods. Maybe some day I'll be interested in graphite and composite rods, too. But regardless, I encourage everyone to take an old rod fishing. It was what it was built for...which brings me to my next point.
6) Fishing with Vintage Tackle. I've become more and more interested in fishing with vintage tackle, something I've done since my childhood. In fact, I rarely fish any other way any more. I encourage everyone in 2011 to rig up an inexpensive vintage rod and reel, tie on a beater plug, and give it a shot. You'd be surprised how gratifying your first fish on vintage gear can be!
7) Family. Although I cannot be with all my family this Thanksgiving, I give thanks for having a mother, father, and five brothers and sisters and their families in my life. Family is the rock upon which we build our lives, and I could not be more thankful for my own family, as I hope you are for yours, too.
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!
-- Dr. Todd
For the Fourth consecutive year--2007's Missive is Here, 2008's Follow Up is Here, and 2009's is here
--I present to you the 7 Things to be Thankful For Today.
1) Patience. It has been a trying time around the Larson household of late. Surgery on my mouth, three operations on my foot, a wife in the hospital with pneumonia, a family with the flu all at once...it's been as rough of a four month span as I can ever remember from a health standpoint. But I've rediscovered the lost art of patience. I am behind on virtually everything in my life, from grading term papers to books, but rather than stress out over this and produce less than adequate work, I've come to the realization that all things will come with time. I can't make up for eight lost weeks of work in one day, or one week, or one month. But it will be made up for, with patience.
2) Books. I love books. That goes without saying, considering I spend virtually all my non-teaching time editing, laying out, preflighting, stocking, shipping, and promoting books for the Whitefish Press. But I do this because of my deep and unabiding love of books themselves. Every week I seem to discover hidden gems, from the writings of Irish novelist Maurice Walsh to the wonderfully hand-written work of John Betts. So many books, so little time. But without an hour snatched here or there to read, I would go insane.
3) Kindness. I was overwhelmed with the number of people who wrote me after my little missive about my father was published. I was so happy that other people enjoyed it, and took time write me about their own experiences with their own fathers. Many of these people I did not know, but were kind enough to take time to tell me their stores. Kindness, the most underrated of all human actions.
4) ORCA. I've been a member of ORCA about a decade, but in that time it has grown to become a part of my life. I love the NFLCC (as those who've read my previous missives know) but I also love ORCA and fishing reels. I am not one who believes you have to have allegiance to one or the other. They both, in their own way, promote our hobby and heritage in the same way. But ORCA's primary focus is fishing reels, and there is no other place quite like it. So many intelligent, analytical minds, it is a great organization and one that I recommend highly to anyone who has even a passing interest in reels and fishing history.
5) Vintage Rods. I love old rods of all kinds. I started collecting 19th century non-bamboo wooden rods a long time ago, then naturally moved into the realm of the split cane rod, which has become a passion. I enjoy researching the history of metal rods, too. Lately I've taken a deep interest in something I fished my whole life, which is fiberglass fly rods. Maybe some day I'll be interested in graphite and composite rods, too. But regardless, I encourage everyone to take an old rod fishing. It was what it was built for...which brings me to my next point.
6) Fishing with Vintage Tackle. I've become more and more interested in fishing with vintage tackle, something I've done since my childhood. In fact, I rarely fish any other way any more. I encourage everyone in 2011 to rig up an inexpensive vintage rod and reel, tie on a beater plug, and give it a shot. You'd be surprised how gratifying your first fish on vintage gear can be!
7) Family. Although I cannot be with all my family this Thanksgiving, I give thanks for having a mother, father, and five brothers and sisters and their families in my life. Family is the rock upon which we build our lives, and I could not be more thankful for my own family, as I hope you are for yours, too.
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!
-- Dr. Todd
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Some Thoughts on the Recent Lang's Auction
Some Thoughts on the Recent Lang's Auction
Here is a disclaimer: I do not in any way work for Lang's, although I consider many of the people that work there to be friends. Additionally, I am suffering from a horrible bout of flu so if this comes off as rambling, I apologize ahead of time.
That being said, there has been a lot of buzz about the Lang's Auction that was held this past weekend, and I thought I'd weigh in with my two cents.
Back when Lang's went to the current format, there was of course a lot of controversy, especially since it meant both the end of "live" bidding as well as the move towards a digital catalog (instead of a bound one).
First, although we may lament that there is not a live auction and an accompanying show, we have to be realistic about life. We can't go back in time. Instead, Live Auctioneers and an on-line auction is what we have. WE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR THIS. Many other auction houses have closed their doors, and we as tackle collectors are fortunate to have a world class auction such as Lang's.
And my experience with the new format (not really new, but over two years old) has been that it is easy to use, with very few glitches. In fact, in many ways it runs more smoothly than a regular auction, in my mind. I think it allows far more people to participate, and potentially get the items they want.
Every auction there are people who have different experiences, who for one reason or another do not get the item they want. This is the nature of the beast. In at least a dozen instances on eBay, I have bid far beyond what the eBay auction ended at and did not win the auction. Why? Who knows? I've also been at live auctions where the auctioneer has ignored my pleading bid and hammered an item that I badly wanted, too. The point is that auctions, whether traditional or on-line, are run by human beings, and human beings make mistakes. We all want a perfect bidding experience, but that is a pipe dream.
What I cannot abide, however, is the idea that some how, some way the system is rigged. Frankly, anyone with any knowledge of back-end databases would know that such thoughts are ridiculous. The sheer audacity to believe that an entire system is rigged just to keep someone from winning a $400 auction is amazing.
Let me put it to you another way: Lang's Auctions are as honest as any auctioneer in any field in America. As Lang's owners Debbie Ganung has recently noted:
I can say unequivocally that Lang’s is an honest auction, and will continue to be so for as long as John and I own it. We work extremely hard to produce the best tackle auctions in the world and to provide exceptional customer service...Every bid is recorded through Live Auctioneers, including the exact time it was received, the IP address of the computer used, and every bid placed by Lang’s technicians on behalf of phone and absentee bidders. There is no way possible to manipulate the online bids. When you see the bidding starting at your high bid, it means there was another absentee bid one increment below yours. In that case, the bidding would start at your high bid, overbidding the underbidder’s absentee bid. Example: your absentee bid is $400. There is another absentee bid of $375. The bidding will open at $400.
Were there glitches in the on-line auctions? Not in any of the dozen auctions I bid on, but this does not mean they did not happen. I did watch one reel record a 52,000 bid but that very well have been a fault in my interface. Some people have posted that they were high bidder until the end, when the auction sailed past their bid and closed quickly. In cases like this, if you wanted the item(s) I suggest bidding what you're willing to pay to get it in the first place.
If there is an item you absolutely have to have, and fear the internet may go down, you should make a phone bid.. Failing that, leave an absentee bid--which is recorded and viewable in your Live Auctioneers profile. But I strongly suggest a phone bid for those items you desperately want as it gives you the best chance to get it.
The bottom line is this. The vast majority of users have had an easy and pleasant bidding experience with the new system. As for problems, if you've had one, pick up the phone and call Lang's! They answer questions all the time, and will very likely explain to you in no time what happened.
We all need to relax and remember this is fun. And there are little things more fun than having Lang's auction on live in the background as I watch football.
-- Dr. Todd
Here is a disclaimer: I do not in any way work for Lang's, although I consider many of the people that work there to be friends. Additionally, I am suffering from a horrible bout of flu so if this comes off as rambling, I apologize ahead of time.
That being said, there has been a lot of buzz about the Lang's Auction that was held this past weekend, and I thought I'd weigh in with my two cents.
Back when Lang's went to the current format, there was of course a lot of controversy, especially since it meant both the end of "live" bidding as well as the move towards a digital catalog (instead of a bound one).
First, although we may lament that there is not a live auction and an accompanying show, we have to be realistic about life. We can't go back in time. Instead, Live Auctioneers and an on-line auction is what we have. WE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR THIS. Many other auction houses have closed their doors, and we as tackle collectors are fortunate to have a world class auction such as Lang's.
And my experience with the new format (not really new, but over two years old) has been that it is easy to use, with very few glitches. In fact, in many ways it runs more smoothly than a regular auction, in my mind. I think it allows far more people to participate, and potentially get the items they want.
Every auction there are people who have different experiences, who for one reason or another do not get the item they want. This is the nature of the beast. In at least a dozen instances on eBay, I have bid far beyond what the eBay auction ended at and did not win the auction. Why? Who knows? I've also been at live auctions where the auctioneer has ignored my pleading bid and hammered an item that I badly wanted, too. The point is that auctions, whether traditional or on-line, are run by human beings, and human beings make mistakes. We all want a perfect bidding experience, but that is a pipe dream.
What I cannot abide, however, is the idea that some how, some way the system is rigged. Frankly, anyone with any knowledge of back-end databases would know that such thoughts are ridiculous. The sheer audacity to believe that an entire system is rigged just to keep someone from winning a $400 auction is amazing.
Let me put it to you another way: Lang's Auctions are as honest as any auctioneer in any field in America. As Lang's owners Debbie Ganung has recently noted:
I can say unequivocally that Lang’s is an honest auction, and will continue to be so for as long as John and I own it. We work extremely hard to produce the best tackle auctions in the world and to provide exceptional customer service...Every bid is recorded through Live Auctioneers, including the exact time it was received, the IP address of the computer used, and every bid placed by Lang’s technicians on behalf of phone and absentee bidders. There is no way possible to manipulate the online bids. When you see the bidding starting at your high bid, it means there was another absentee bid one increment below yours. In that case, the bidding would start at your high bid, overbidding the underbidder’s absentee bid. Example: your absentee bid is $400. There is another absentee bid of $375. The bidding will open at $400.
Were there glitches in the on-line auctions? Not in any of the dozen auctions I bid on, but this does not mean they did not happen. I did watch one reel record a 52,000 bid but that very well have been a fault in my interface. Some people have posted that they were high bidder until the end, when the auction sailed past their bid and closed quickly. In cases like this, if you wanted the item(s) I suggest bidding what you're willing to pay to get it in the first place.
If there is an item you absolutely have to have, and fear the internet may go down, you should make a phone bid.. Failing that, leave an absentee bid--which is recorded and viewable in your Live Auctioneers profile. But I strongly suggest a phone bid for those items you desperately want as it gives you the best chance to get it.
The bottom line is this. The vast majority of users have had an easy and pleasant bidding experience with the new system. As for problems, if you've had one, pick up the phone and call Lang's! They answer questions all the time, and will very likely explain to you in no time what happened.
We all need to relax and remember this is fun. And there are little things more fun than having Lang's auction on live in the background as I watch football.
-- Dr. Todd
Monday, September 6, 2010
Labor and the Fishing Tackle Industry
Labor and the Fishing Tackle Industry
(Reprinted from the 02 September 2007 Blog)
Today, the majority of us will celebrate the working man in America by watching a ball game, attending a fireworks celebration, or stuffing ourselves with burgers and hot dogs. I thought I would take a minute to reflect on the meaning of Labor Day as it concerns the history of fishing in America.
Labor Day had humble beginnings, being organized by the Central Labor Union and celebrated for the first time on Tuesday, 05 September 1882 in New York City. By 1884, the first Monday in September was chosen as the official Labor Day, and was soon widely emulated. The New York Times ran a detailed article on 07 September 1886 entitled "Parades in Other Cities: How Labor Day Was Observed by All Classes of Workmen." That year in New York City itself, 14,000 working men paraded before Mayor Grace. In 1894, it became an official federal holiday.
Labor Day Parade in Buffalo, NY, ca. 1900
The fishing tackle industry was largely built on the backs of the American working man and woman. It was one of the early industries to hire women in large numbers (almost all factory dressed flies were tied by women, and women predominated in the manufacture of fish hooks) and over the years offered gainful employment to hundreds of thousands of employees, American workers who built communities, raised families, and fought and died for their nation.
Mostly, these fishing tackle industry employees' names are lost to history. For every Charlie Heddon or William Shakespeare, Jr., there were 100s of workers whose names we will never know but who designed, built, and packaged the tackle we use and collect. Fortunately, a few of their names and deeds have been preserved. People like Nettie Cruse, forewoman of the dressed fly division of Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Akron, Ohio, who died tragically in the great fire that consumed the Pflueger factory in 1891. Louis Valentine, who worked from 1906-1958 assembling Pflueger reels by hand, and who was thought to have completed 500,000 Pflueger Supremes in his lifetime. Don Martin, who left his position on the factory line at Shakespeare to join the Marines in 1941 and died in the Pacific fighting at Tarawa. I bought some Shakespeare spinner blanks from Don's baby sister who remembered that he had the kindest eyes.
Anonymous Shakespeare worker assembling reels at the Kalamazoo, MI factory
Organized Labor and the fishing tackle industry had at times a difficult relationship. Pflueger underwent a series of turbulent strikes in the 1930s, caught up in the labor turmoil in Akron spawned at the great rubber factories like Goodyear and Firestone. Shakespeare and Heddon suffered violent strikes in the post-World War II era, and even smaller companies like The Sunset Line & Twine Co. in California had labor problems that made national news. But these were exceptions; the majority of tackle companies, big and small, had placid relationships between management and labor. In fact, in my interviews with former employees of Pflueger I conducted in preparation for my next volume of Pflueger essays, everyone I talked to had nothing but good things to say about working in the tackle factory. From what I know of Shakespeare, Heddon, and other companies, there was a similar sense of community elsewhere too.
So this Labor Day, in between trips to the cooler or during the seventh inning stretch, pause for a moment and reflect how even in your chosen hobby--whether it is researching fishing history or collecting fishing tackle--the fingerprints of the American working man and woman are everywhere. They built your fishing tackle, and they built your nation.
Have a safe and happy Labor Day.
-- Dr. Todd
(Reprinted from the 02 September 2007 Blog)
Today, the majority of us will celebrate the working man in America by watching a ball game, attending a fireworks celebration, or stuffing ourselves with burgers and hot dogs. I thought I would take a minute to reflect on the meaning of Labor Day as it concerns the history of fishing in America.
Labor Day had humble beginnings, being organized by the Central Labor Union and celebrated for the first time on Tuesday, 05 September 1882 in New York City. By 1884, the first Monday in September was chosen as the official Labor Day, and was soon widely emulated. The New York Times ran a detailed article on 07 September 1886 entitled "Parades in Other Cities: How Labor Day Was Observed by All Classes of Workmen." That year in New York City itself, 14,000 working men paraded before Mayor Grace. In 1894, it became an official federal holiday.
The fishing tackle industry was largely built on the backs of the American working man and woman. It was one of the early industries to hire women in large numbers (almost all factory dressed flies were tied by women, and women predominated in the manufacture of fish hooks) and over the years offered gainful employment to hundreds of thousands of employees, American workers who built communities, raised families, and fought and died for their nation.
Mostly, these fishing tackle industry employees' names are lost to history. For every Charlie Heddon or William Shakespeare, Jr., there were 100s of workers whose names we will never know but who designed, built, and packaged the tackle we use and collect. Fortunately, a few of their names and deeds have been preserved. People like Nettie Cruse, forewoman of the dressed fly division of Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Akron, Ohio, who died tragically in the great fire that consumed the Pflueger factory in 1891. Louis Valentine, who worked from 1906-1958 assembling Pflueger reels by hand, and who was thought to have completed 500,000 Pflueger Supremes in his lifetime. Don Martin, who left his position on the factory line at Shakespeare to join the Marines in 1941 and died in the Pacific fighting at Tarawa. I bought some Shakespeare spinner blanks from Don's baby sister who remembered that he had the kindest eyes.
Organized Labor and the fishing tackle industry had at times a difficult relationship. Pflueger underwent a series of turbulent strikes in the 1930s, caught up in the labor turmoil in Akron spawned at the great rubber factories like Goodyear and Firestone. Shakespeare and Heddon suffered violent strikes in the post-World War II era, and even smaller companies like The Sunset Line & Twine Co. in California had labor problems that made national news. But these were exceptions; the majority of tackle companies, big and small, had placid relationships between management and labor. In fact, in my interviews with former employees of Pflueger I conducted in preparation for my next volume of Pflueger essays, everyone I talked to had nothing but good things to say about working in the tackle factory. From what I know of Shakespeare, Heddon, and other companies, there was a similar sense of community elsewhere too.
So this Labor Day, in between trips to the cooler or during the seventh inning stretch, pause for a moment and reflect how even in your chosen hobby--whether it is researching fishing history or collecting fishing tackle--the fingerprints of the American working man and woman are everywhere. They built your fishing tackle, and they built your nation.
Have a safe and happy Labor Day.
-- Dr. Todd
Sunday, April 4, 2010
UPDATE: Worst. Packaging. Ever.
Worst. Packaging. Ever.
Jeff Johnson recently posted these almost surreal pics about a recent eBay purchase and I just had to repost it (with Jeff's permission) as it may be the single worst packaging job I've ever seen. Click here for our first foray into awful packaging, and click here for the follow up.
For those who haven't followed, I've posted before on this subject and included some horror stories from others as well. But I'm not sure I've seen THIS particular travesty before. Jeff's commentary is short and to the point:
Do you want a good laugh? At my expense that is. Are people really that stupid? YES THEY ARE. Heres what I got in the mail today from an Ebay seller. What the @!%#!!
Thanks to Jeff for letting us repost this...I'm sure he'd rather forget the whole episode!
-- Dr. Todd
Jeff Johnson recently posted these almost surreal pics about a recent eBay purchase and I just had to repost it (with Jeff's permission) as it may be the single worst packaging job I've ever seen. Click here for our first foray into awful packaging, and click here for the follow up.
For those who haven't followed, I've posted before on this subject and included some horror stories from others as well. But I'm not sure I've seen THIS particular travesty before. Jeff's commentary is short and to the point:
Do you want a good laugh? At my expense that is. Are people really that stupid? YES THEY ARE. Heres what I got in the mail today from an Ebay seller. What the @!%#!!
Thanks to Jeff for letting us repost this...I'm sure he'd rather forget the whole episode!
-- Dr. Todd
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
EDITORIAL: Four Questions to Ask About the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force
EDITORIAL: Four Questions to Ask About the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force
As many of you know, I have been following the developments concerning the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force very carefully. For those who haven't taken the time to read about it, you can catch up on it here and here and here.
Basically, it is the most sweeping reform of coastal fishing regulations in memory. The White House's Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force is a plan, in the words of Robert A. Miller, noted angling writer and geologist, "fraught with serious implications, not the least of which relate to recreational fishing." The most serious of these include the edict to join the Law of the Sea Convention, which would basically put coastal waters under international jurisdiction.
What has many, many sportfishermen and women worried is the almost insane pace at which this massive reform is being carried out. What has many, many anglers of all stripes up in arms is the lack of say from both anglers and the sportfishing industry in the drafting and refining of this proposal. Add that to the recent breaking news via ESPN that public input has been cut off and you have the recipe for a disaster.
Now, I would like to think I am an informed person, which, of course, is very different from an educated person. Some of the least informed people I know have the most education, and some of the least educated are the most informed. I have worked hard to inform myself on this issue, and everything I've seen from the manner in which the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force has conducted its affairs has thrown up one red flag after another. Why the break neck speed? Why the almost ludicrous lack of input from a multi-billion dollar recreational sport industry? Try as I might, I have yet to find a convincing answer to these two questions.
I would like to think I am also a reasonable person. I want to give this administration the benefit of the doubt, but I've taken a long, hard look at their track record, and am troubled. As a friend of mine pointed out, if I sit back and hope for the best, "what if you're wrong? What if, in two years, the entire Great Lakes fishery is closed to sport anglers? How would you live with yourself?" At the risk of being far too rhetorical, I'm going to list what I think any reasonably informed person should ask about the Task Force and its work.
Is it unreasonable to cast doubt on a plan so hastily put together?
Would a reasonable person question the merits of any task force in which anti-fishing advocacy groups numbering at best thousands of members have far more say than a sport fishing industry numbering millions?
What has this administration done in its first year to give us any reason to believe this plan has been thought through in a rational manner that takes into account the economic consequences of sweeping government reform as well as the very real environmental concerns facing our coastal waters?
Can we afford to trust our future, OUR OUTDOORS, to a task force that willfully makes little or no distinction between commercial and sport fishing?
The answers to those questions will differ from person to person, but I don't think for one moment that the queries are unreasonable.
I guess the most frustrating thing for me is that, as a dedicated angler and a historian of Outdoor America, I feel like I am being painted by the administration on this issue as at best a nuisance and at worst an enemy of their plan. I feel like I'm being told smarter people than myself are being put in charge of this, and that whatever they come up with will by definition be the right answer. I sense an infuriating tone of condescension coming from the Task Force, as if they only deigned to hold a public forum to quiet "the masses" before going off and doing exactly what they wanted to do in the first place. I get no sense they really want to know what the average American has to say on the subject.
For years the exploits of hunters and anglers in protecting the environment have been virtually ignored by governments, schools, and academics alike. Don't believe me? Go get yourself a copy of any of the standard reference works on the ecological and environmental history of America and try to find the accomplishments of hunters and anglers within their considerable pages. I'll save you the time: you won't find much, if anything, about the incredible work sportsmen did to help protect and conserve the environment. Since the entire ecological movement in America was basically founded, promoted, and staffed by avid hunters and anglers, this omission goes well beyond glaring.
Why the history lesson? You may think that as a history professor, I never pass up an opportunity to lecture an audience. That may very well be true. However, there's a far more grave reason for that anecdote. As sportsmen and women, we've already let others write our history for us. Will we let them craft our future as well?
I urge everyone to familiarize yourself with the issue, and if you come to the same conclusion that I have, take the time to write the administration about your reservations concerning the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force.
History is waiting to judge us all.
-- Todd E.A. Larson, Ph.D.
As many of you know, I have been following the developments concerning the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force very carefully. For those who haven't taken the time to read about it, you can catch up on it here and here and here.
Basically, it is the most sweeping reform of coastal fishing regulations in memory. The White House's Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force is a plan, in the words of Robert A. Miller, noted angling writer and geologist, "fraught with serious implications, not the least of which relate to recreational fishing." The most serious of these include the edict to join the Law of the Sea Convention, which would basically put coastal waters under international jurisdiction.
What has many, many sportfishermen and women worried is the almost insane pace at which this massive reform is being carried out. What has many, many anglers of all stripes up in arms is the lack of say from both anglers and the sportfishing industry in the drafting and refining of this proposal. Add that to the recent breaking news via ESPN that public input has been cut off and you have the recipe for a disaster.
Now, I would like to think I am an informed person, which, of course, is very different from an educated person. Some of the least informed people I know have the most education, and some of the least educated are the most informed. I have worked hard to inform myself on this issue, and everything I've seen from the manner in which the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force has conducted its affairs has thrown up one red flag after another. Why the break neck speed? Why the almost ludicrous lack of input from a multi-billion dollar recreational sport industry? Try as I might, I have yet to find a convincing answer to these two questions.
I would like to think I am also a reasonable person. I want to give this administration the benefit of the doubt, but I've taken a long, hard look at their track record, and am troubled. As a friend of mine pointed out, if I sit back and hope for the best, "what if you're wrong? What if, in two years, the entire Great Lakes fishery is closed to sport anglers? How would you live with yourself?" At the risk of being far too rhetorical, I'm going to list what I think any reasonably informed person should ask about the Task Force and its work.
Is it unreasonable to cast doubt on a plan so hastily put together?
Would a reasonable person question the merits of any task force in which anti-fishing advocacy groups numbering at best thousands of members have far more say than a sport fishing industry numbering millions?
What has this administration done in its first year to give us any reason to believe this plan has been thought through in a rational manner that takes into account the economic consequences of sweeping government reform as well as the very real environmental concerns facing our coastal waters?
Can we afford to trust our future, OUR OUTDOORS, to a task force that willfully makes little or no distinction between commercial and sport fishing?
The answers to those questions will differ from person to person, but I don't think for one moment that the queries are unreasonable.
I guess the most frustrating thing for me is that, as a dedicated angler and a historian of Outdoor America, I feel like I am being painted by the administration on this issue as at best a nuisance and at worst an enemy of their plan. I feel like I'm being told smarter people than myself are being put in charge of this, and that whatever they come up with will by definition be the right answer. I sense an infuriating tone of condescension coming from the Task Force, as if they only deigned to hold a public forum to quiet "the masses" before going off and doing exactly what they wanted to do in the first place. I get no sense they really want to know what the average American has to say on the subject.
For years the exploits of hunters and anglers in protecting the environment have been virtually ignored by governments, schools, and academics alike. Don't believe me? Go get yourself a copy of any of the standard reference works on the ecological and environmental history of America and try to find the accomplishments of hunters and anglers within their considerable pages. I'll save you the time: you won't find much, if anything, about the incredible work sportsmen did to help protect and conserve the environment. Since the entire ecological movement in America was basically founded, promoted, and staffed by avid hunters and anglers, this omission goes well beyond glaring.
Why the history lesson? You may think that as a history professor, I never pass up an opportunity to lecture an audience. That may very well be true. However, there's a far more grave reason for that anecdote. As sportsmen and women, we've already let others write our history for us. Will we let them craft our future as well?
I urge everyone to familiarize yourself with the issue, and if you come to the same conclusion that I have, take the time to write the administration about your reservations concerning the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force.
History is waiting to judge us all.
-- Todd E.A. Larson, Ph.D.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
7 Things to be Thankful For Today (Once Again)
7 Things to be Thankful For Today (Once Again)
For the third consecutive year--2007's Missive is Here and 2008's Follow Up is Here--I present to you the 7 Things to be Thankful For Today.
1) Health. It's been a really terrible couple of months around here, which reinforces a salient fact about life: nothing else matters if you do not have your health. Seriously. I was once told by a theologian that the one thing in the world we cannot truly comprehend is our own mortality. In our minds, we are all going to live forever. Well, no one lives forever, but while you're here on earth, you better start taking care of yourself or you'll be checking out sooner rather than later. As men, we are accustomed to living through aches and pains, but there are some things (lumps, for examples), that need to be checked out immediately by a qualified physician. Putting this off may very well mean the difference between living and dying. Without your health, you have nothing...
2) Vintage Magazines. I've developed an unhealthy obsession with old sporting magazines. I just can't get enough of them. The layout, the writing, the ads, the photos--all of it is fuel for my addiction. Problem is, they take up a ton of room. But every time I've been stressed out this year, I was able to lose myself (and my cares) inside the pages of great magazines. So I continue buying them, and I continue to get lost in their pages.
3) Wild Bill Sonnett.. There have been many people who've helped out with the blog over the years, but no one has contributed as much or as high a quality of stuff as our own Wild Bill Sonnett. My God folks. I hope you realize every one of the "Deconstructing Old Ads" that Bill does is like sitting in on a graduate lecture on old tackle. Bill didn't learn this stuff staring at eBay photos. He built up his knowledge over decades of research and writing -- he was writing articles about Heddon before anyone knew what the internet was. So when you see Bill, give him a big thank you for taking the time to educate the rest of us from his seemingly limitless font of information (and ads).
4) Fishing With Daughters. I can't speak to having sons, but I do know about having daughters. And very little on earth beats fishing with your daughter. In fact, almost nothing at all. It is one of the joys of my year when I can get out on the lake with my nine-year old daughter and share with her my love of the outdoors.
5) Dogs. This year we welcomed a dog into our humble abode for the first time--a rescue dog at that. He's half long-haired dachsund and half Australian cattle dog, which basically makes him a cartoon character come to life. He's ridiculous, in a good way. He was basically bred to be abused in a pit bull fighting ring, and when we got him, he was emaciated and incredibly skeptical of humans in general. He has slowly come to trust us, and now I can't believe I lived so long without a dog. We named him "Gandhi" because he simply would not hurt a fly. He has enriched all of our lives.
6) Collector Friends. I've made friends in many areas of life -- school, church, work, etc. But the best people I know are anglers, and the best anglers I know study and appreciate old tackle. Through my 25+ years of collecting tackle and writing about fishing, I've been blessed to meet some of the greatest people on earth. I've also met a few jackasses, but that goes without saying. They are, after all, just about everywhere. The vast majority of anglers and collectors are salt of the earth.
7) A REALLY, REALLY Patient Wife. It is not easy to be married to an angler (there's a reason why the term "Weekend Widow" became popular), but when an angler becomes a collector...well, I probably don't have to tell you about that. Try explaining a $500 (or more) antique fishing tackle purchase to someone who isn't married to a collector and they will look at you like you sprouted horns. It isn't reasonable, or even sane, to the rest of the world. But my wife is patient beyond words with me, and for that, I am now and forever grateful. You see, like all angler's (and collector's) wives, she gets me. She understands why I can get so excited just by seeing something on the internet I have to call 10 people. She doesn't blink an eye when the mailman has to make special stops to drop off all the packages. She doesn't even get that angry when I leave empty boxes and packaging material lying on the floor. Strike that. She does get angry when I do that. But you get the point. Patient, forgiving partners--I wish one for all of you.
This is what I'm thankful for. How about you?
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!
-- Dr. Todd
For the third consecutive year--2007's Missive is Here and 2008's Follow Up is Here--I present to you the 7 Things to be Thankful For Today.
1) Health. It's been a really terrible couple of months around here, which reinforces a salient fact about life: nothing else matters if you do not have your health. Seriously. I was once told by a theologian that the one thing in the world we cannot truly comprehend is our own mortality. In our minds, we are all going to live forever. Well, no one lives forever, but while you're here on earth, you better start taking care of yourself or you'll be checking out sooner rather than later. As men, we are accustomed to living through aches and pains, but there are some things (lumps, for examples), that need to be checked out immediately by a qualified physician. Putting this off may very well mean the difference between living and dying. Without your health, you have nothing...
2) Vintage Magazines. I've developed an unhealthy obsession with old sporting magazines. I just can't get enough of them. The layout, the writing, the ads, the photos--all of it is fuel for my addiction. Problem is, they take up a ton of room. But every time I've been stressed out this year, I was able to lose myself (and my cares) inside the pages of great magazines. So I continue buying them, and I continue to get lost in their pages.
3) Wild Bill Sonnett.. There have been many people who've helped out with the blog over the years, but no one has contributed as much or as high a quality of stuff as our own Wild Bill Sonnett. My God folks. I hope you realize every one of the "Deconstructing Old Ads" that Bill does is like sitting in on a graduate lecture on old tackle. Bill didn't learn this stuff staring at eBay photos. He built up his knowledge over decades of research and writing -- he was writing articles about Heddon before anyone knew what the internet was. So when you see Bill, give him a big thank you for taking the time to educate the rest of us from his seemingly limitless font of information (and ads).
4) Fishing With Daughters. I can't speak to having sons, but I do know about having daughters. And very little on earth beats fishing with your daughter. In fact, almost nothing at all. It is one of the joys of my year when I can get out on the lake with my nine-year old daughter and share with her my love of the outdoors.
5) Dogs. This year we welcomed a dog into our humble abode for the first time--a rescue dog at that. He's half long-haired dachsund and half Australian cattle dog, which basically makes him a cartoon character come to life. He's ridiculous, in a good way. He was basically bred to be abused in a pit bull fighting ring, and when we got him, he was emaciated and incredibly skeptical of humans in general. He has slowly come to trust us, and now I can't believe I lived so long without a dog. We named him "Gandhi" because he simply would not hurt a fly. He has enriched all of our lives.
6) Collector Friends. I've made friends in many areas of life -- school, church, work, etc. But the best people I know are anglers, and the best anglers I know study and appreciate old tackle. Through my 25+ years of collecting tackle and writing about fishing, I've been blessed to meet some of the greatest people on earth. I've also met a few jackasses, but that goes without saying. They are, after all, just about everywhere. The vast majority of anglers and collectors are salt of the earth.
7) A REALLY, REALLY Patient Wife. It is not easy to be married to an angler (there's a reason why the term "Weekend Widow" became popular), but when an angler becomes a collector...well, I probably don't have to tell you about that. Try explaining a $500 (or more) antique fishing tackle purchase to someone who isn't married to a collector and they will look at you like you sprouted horns. It isn't reasonable, or even sane, to the rest of the world. But my wife is patient beyond words with me, and for that, I am now and forever grateful. You see, like all angler's (and collector's) wives, she gets me. She understands why I can get so excited just by seeing something on the internet I have to call 10 people. She doesn't blink an eye when the mailman has to make special stops to drop off all the packages. She doesn't even get that angry when I leave empty boxes and packaging material lying on the floor. Strike that. She does get angry when I do that. But you get the point. Patient, forgiving partners--I wish one for all of you.
This is what I'm thankful for. How about you?
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!
-- Dr. Todd
Monday, September 7, 2009
Labor and the Fishing Tackle Industry
Labor and the Fishing Tackle Industry
(Reprinted from the 02 September 2007 Blog)
Today, the majority of us will celebrate the working man in America by watching a ball game, attending a fireworks celebration, or stuffing ourselves with burgers and hot dogs. I thought I would take a minute to reflect on the meaning of Labor Day as it concerns the history of fishing in America.
Labor Day had humble beginnings, being organized by the Central Labor Union and celebrated for the first time on Tuesday, 05 September 1882 in New York City. By 1884, the first Monday in September was chosen as the official Labor Day, and was soon widely emulated. The New York Times ran a detailed article on 07 September 1886 entitled "Parades in Other Cities: How Labor Day Was Observed by All Classes of Workmen." That year in New York City itself, 14,000 working men paraded before Mayor Grace. In 1894, it became an official federal holiday.
Labor Day Parade in Buffalo, NY, ca. 1900
The fishing tackle industry was largely built on the backs of the American working man and woman. It was one of the early industries to hire women in large numbers (almost all factory dressed flies were tied by women, and women predominated in the manufacture of fish hooks) and over the years offered gainful employment to hundreds of thousands of employees, American workers who built communities, raised families, and fought and died for their nation.
Mostly, these fishing tackle industry employees' names are lost to history. For every Charley Heddon or William Shakespeare, Jr., there were 100s of workers whose names we will never know but who designed, built, and packaged the tackle we use and collect. Fortunately, a few of their names and deeds have been preserved. People like Nettie Cruse, forewoman of the dressed fly division of Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Akron, Ohio, who died tragically in the great fire that consumed the Pflueger factory in 1891. Louis Valentine, who worked from 1906-1958 assembling Pflueger reels by hand, and who was thought to have completed 500,000 Pflueger Supremes in his lifetime. Don Martin, who left his position on the factory line at Shakespeare to join the Marines in 1941 and died in the Pacific fighting at Tarawa. I bought some Shakespeare spinner blanks from Don's baby sister who remembered that he had the kindest eyes.
Anonymous Shakespeare worker assembling reels at the Kalamazoo, MI factory
Organized Labor and the fishing tackle industry had at times a difficult relationship. Pflueger underwent a series of turbulent strikes in the 1930s, caught up in the labor turmoil in Akron spawned at the great rubber factories like Goodyear and Firestone. Shakespeare and Heddon suffered violent strikes in the post-World War II era, and even smaller companies like The Sunset Line & Twine Co. in California had labor problems that made national news. But these were exceptions; the majority of tackle companies, big and small, had placid relationships between management and labor. In fact, in my interviews with former employees of Pflueger I conducted in preparation for my next volume of Pflueger essays, everyone I talked to had nothing but good things to say about working in the tackle factory. From what I know of Shakespeare, Heddon, and other companies, there was a similar sense of community elsewhere too.
So this Labor Day, in between trips to the cooler or during the seventh inning stretch, pause for a moment and reflect how even in your chosen hobby--whether it is researching fishing history or collecting fishing tackle--the fingerprints of the American working man and woman are everywhere. They built your fishing tackle, and they built your nation.
Have a safe and happy Labor Day.
-- Dr. Todd
(Reprinted from the 02 September 2007 Blog)
Today, the majority of us will celebrate the working man in America by watching a ball game, attending a fireworks celebration, or stuffing ourselves with burgers and hot dogs. I thought I would take a minute to reflect on the meaning of Labor Day as it concerns the history of fishing in America.
Labor Day had humble beginnings, being organized by the Central Labor Union and celebrated for the first time on Tuesday, 05 September 1882 in New York City. By 1884, the first Monday in September was chosen as the official Labor Day, and was soon widely emulated. The New York Times ran a detailed article on 07 September 1886 entitled "Parades in Other Cities: How Labor Day Was Observed by All Classes of Workmen." That year in New York City itself, 14,000 working men paraded before Mayor Grace. In 1894, it became an official federal holiday.
The fishing tackle industry was largely built on the backs of the American working man and woman. It was one of the early industries to hire women in large numbers (almost all factory dressed flies were tied by women, and women predominated in the manufacture of fish hooks) and over the years offered gainful employment to hundreds of thousands of employees, American workers who built communities, raised families, and fought and died for their nation.
Mostly, these fishing tackle industry employees' names are lost to history. For every Charley Heddon or William Shakespeare, Jr., there were 100s of workers whose names we will never know but who designed, built, and packaged the tackle we use and collect. Fortunately, a few of their names and deeds have been preserved. People like Nettie Cruse, forewoman of the dressed fly division of Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Akron, Ohio, who died tragically in the great fire that consumed the Pflueger factory in 1891. Louis Valentine, who worked from 1906-1958 assembling Pflueger reels by hand, and who was thought to have completed 500,000 Pflueger Supremes in his lifetime. Don Martin, who left his position on the factory line at Shakespeare to join the Marines in 1941 and died in the Pacific fighting at Tarawa. I bought some Shakespeare spinner blanks from Don's baby sister who remembered that he had the kindest eyes.
Organized Labor and the fishing tackle industry had at times a difficult relationship. Pflueger underwent a series of turbulent strikes in the 1930s, caught up in the labor turmoil in Akron spawned at the great rubber factories like Goodyear and Firestone. Shakespeare and Heddon suffered violent strikes in the post-World War II era, and even smaller companies like The Sunset Line & Twine Co. in California had labor problems that made national news. But these were exceptions; the majority of tackle companies, big and small, had placid relationships between management and labor. In fact, in my interviews with former employees of Pflueger I conducted in preparation for my next volume of Pflueger essays, everyone I talked to had nothing but good things to say about working in the tackle factory. From what I know of Shakespeare, Heddon, and other companies, there was a similar sense of community elsewhere too.
So this Labor Day, in between trips to the cooler or during the seventh inning stretch, pause for a moment and reflect how even in your chosen hobby--whether it is researching fishing history or collecting fishing tackle--the fingerprints of the American working man and woman are everywhere. They built your fishing tackle, and they built your nation.
Have a safe and happy Labor Day.
-- Dr. Todd
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Editorial: Final Words on Vintage & Antique, by Charlie Barfknecht
Today we forego the Voices from the Past to publish an editorial by Charlie Barfknecht, a retired academic who has penned some sensible words on the subject.
DEFINING “VINTAGE”
When I taught pharmacy students, I would tell them that persons need to be using the same definitions for terms in order to communicate. Pharmacists and students are cursed, because they need to know several definitions for some terms and to use the specific definition with particular persons or groups.
For example, laypersons use “pill” to define any solid pharmaceutical dosage [tablet, capsule] they are taking. There is a specific, obsolete, solid dosage form called a pill which 99.9% of the population have never taken. Another example is “sodium”. Laypersons, MDs & nurses use sodium when they mean sodium ion or sodium +1. To scientists sodium is elemental sodium or sodium zero.
In angling circles some people consider that a “flaptail” is a Heddon lure and do not use the term to refer to a category of surface baits with a large blade on the back. I happen to collect musky-size flaptail lures which are made by a reasonable number of companies and basement-type operations. A “jerkbait” to a bass fisherman is what a musky fisherman calls a minnow or twitchbait. A musky jerkbait [rise & dive or glide bait types] is a completely different and distinct lure type.
Other terms where there is no universally accepted definition include “torture” [hot topic in Washington DC] and “decimate” [sports writer or Latin scholar]. I rest my case that communication requires the participants to use the same definitions of terms.
Your survey results on what “vintage” means to different lure collectors supports my contention. Unless one has independent evidence that the definition came down from a mountain written on a stone tablet, one should assume that there is more than one valid definition for a term.
Charlie Barfknecht, 01/17/09
Thanks Charlie! A lucid and logical response to a question that has driven people nuts of late.
-- Dr. Todd
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Vintage, Antique & Collectable Tackle Jumble
The Vintage, Antique & Collectable Tackle Jumble
Lately there has been some discussion on the subject of the definition of "vintage" and "antique." I have written about this for some time now, and even put up a poll this week to see what others thought of the term "vintage" and how they defined it.
But let's start with the word "antique." The U.S. Customs service defined an antique as any item over 100 years old back in the 1930s. As far as I know that is how many established dealers define the word. There is an interesting discussion of this word here.
I think more confusing is the word "vintage." I wrote the following a few years back on ORCA's Reel Talk board:
Vintage is one of those nothing terms; a "vintage" item to someone in their 20s is different from that of someone in their 70s. It is all about perspective. It originated with wine makers, of course, but as the following link shows, there is an enormous gap in the way people define it.
Several people took exception to this, but they were wed to the definition of vintage as a noun and not as an adjective, as it is always used in the fishing tackle sense. Vintage as a noun is defined by Dictionary.com as:
6. The class of a dated object with reference to era or production or use: A hat of last year's vintage.
This is how some people want to solely define the term.
However, the use of vintage as an adjective, as in "vintage fishing tackle," has a totally different meaning. It is best defined in this usage, again according to Dictionary.com, as:
9. representing the high quality of a past time: vintage cars; vintage movies.
So, as the poll suggests, vintage is left to the user to define. For one person "vintage fishing tackle" may very well mean pre-1900 tackle; for others, it may mean pre-1980.
The third word used commonly--collectable--is also in the eye of the beholder. Some people think Pogs are collectable and will pay hundreds of dollars for an item, and would likely think you crazy for spending the same amount on a fishing lure. I once watched in horror one dealer in Rantoul, IL at a flea market sell $10,000 in Beanie Babies in one morning (100 of a certain "rare" beanie for $100 each, when I came back he had sold out)...
So whether you collect antique, vintage, or collectable fishing tackle--or all of the above--please know that your definition may not be the next time. Remember this when you go out on a field find for "vintage" tackle and find a box full of 1990s Rapalas!
-- Dr. Todd
Lately there has been some discussion on the subject of the definition of "vintage" and "antique." I have written about this for some time now, and even put up a poll this week to see what others thought of the term "vintage" and how they defined it.
But let's start with the word "antique." The U.S. Customs service defined an antique as any item over 100 years old back in the 1930s. As far as I know that is how many established dealers define the word. There is an interesting discussion of this word here.
I think more confusing is the word "vintage." I wrote the following a few years back on ORCA's Reel Talk board:
Vintage is one of those nothing terms; a "vintage" item to someone in their 20s is different from that of someone in their 70s. It is all about perspective. It originated with wine makers, of course, but as the following link shows, there is an enormous gap in the way people define it.
Several people took exception to this, but they were wed to the definition of vintage as a noun and not as an adjective, as it is always used in the fishing tackle sense. Vintage as a noun is defined by Dictionary.com as:
6. The class of a dated object with reference to era or production or use: A hat of last year's vintage.
This is how some people want to solely define the term.
However, the use of vintage as an adjective, as in "vintage fishing tackle," has a totally different meaning. It is best defined in this usage, again according to Dictionary.com, as:
9. representing the high quality of a past time: vintage cars; vintage movies.
So, as the poll suggests, vintage is left to the user to define. For one person "vintage fishing tackle" may very well mean pre-1900 tackle; for others, it may mean pre-1980.
The third word used commonly--collectable--is also in the eye of the beholder. Some people think Pogs are collectable and will pay hundreds of dollars for an item, and would likely think you crazy for spending the same amount on a fishing lure. I once watched in horror one dealer in Rantoul, IL at a flea market sell $10,000 in Beanie Babies in one morning (100 of a certain "rare" beanie for $100 each, when I came back he had sold out)...
So whether you collect antique, vintage, or collectable fishing tackle--or all of the above--please know that your definition may not be the next time. Remember this when you go out on a field find for "vintage" tackle and find a box full of 1990s Rapalas!
-- Dr. Todd
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Worst Packaging Job Ever, Redux
Worst Packaging Job Ever, Redux
Awhile back, I posted about the worst packaging job I had ever seen. On a number of boards as well as by email, this post received a lot of interesting commentary. I've culled them for some of the best (or is it worst?) packaging stories around.
Some of the stories certainly exceeded my own in both damage and shocking negligence.
For example, a poster identified only as Basscaster declared:
I had a UPS guy deliver 2 Loomis crankbait rods to Menards where they were taken out of [the] tubes and stolen. I actually went up to front desk to get [the] rods and the manager would not let me talk to the delivery guys in back. I also had a 7 ft. bass rod packed in 3 triangle boxes taped together. Rod came broke in half with boxes barely attached together.
Ouch. Rods seemed to be a popular subject. Tom Eidson reported on a "Five Foot Bamboo Rod in a 4'10" Box." As he noted:
As you might expect rod became a 4 ft 10 rod. Seller's reply was duh!!!
Jason G. reported another ridiculous packaging job:
I bought a dealer carton of The Hooker lures. There were several lures new in their boxes. The dealer carton was printed up to look like a big treasure chest. They put tape all over the dealer carton and used it as the shipping box.
A similar experience befell Phil White, who reported a number of horrifying experiences, but this may be the worst of all:
One story I forgot was the one about the reel in box that I bought on eBay. The seller put the reel back in the original box, taped it up and put the label on the reel box and sent it to me. Really nice!
Lest we might think that was an isolated incident, Jeff Kieny is here to prove us wrong:
I once received a lure that I had paid Priority Mail w/ insurance on arrive in a very thin, used, cheap cardboard box about 8"x8"x8", shipped first class with no insurance. But the real story is the lure had been dropped into the box with NO PACKING MATERIALS OF ANY KIND ANYWHERE! Simply nothing - Rattling around completely loose inside was JUST the lure. Amazing...
Seriously, that could not be more ridiculous if you tried. Unless, of course, you were getting a box of reels like poor Terry:
I have had some of the worst packing jobs ever... lures that arrived today were jammed into their boxes, hooks jabbing, unprotected into the paint... and then sent in a large box, with not quite enough packing to keep them from doing damage. I have had this several times before , and also with expensive reels last month. 1 light bubble wrap , poorly covering the reels in a box with virtually no packing...all reels banging together!
Reels seem to be difficult for some people to handle. As Bill in Florida found out:
I bought a lot of @15 reels off ebay once , they were just put in a box with NO packing material , by the time they arrived about half had broken parts and all were very dinged up . Most of the time everything is packed well and arrives in one piece.
Ken Vick from the great state of Arkansas had a unique experience:
The very worst was a lure from the other place was a lure I purchased. The box was big enough to put a basketball in there was one lure no packing just rattleing around in the box no nothing but lure Think I was charged 5.80 for shipping and handling Guess it cost to sling the darn thing in the Box!!! Oh Well it got here at least!!!
Wesley Ooms had a terrible experience that has likely never been repeated:
Bought a group of 12-15 baits, including an early Pflueger Wizard and a Heddon Killer. Gave instructions to carefully wrap each bait separately. Needless to say . . . ...the baits arrived in a box. A METAL box, and all of the baits gnarled in a ball of treble festooned barbs. No packing, no padding, just baits bouncing around.
Lucky Mike Hall had lightning strike twice:
Had a guy...send me a Paw Paw fly on a card in only an envelope, it arrived smashed. I let him know about it, he sent another the same way. Smashed again.
Even fly rod lures are not immune, as Chris Diestel reported:
A nice lot of fly baits(Heddon tied leg pop eye frog being one) shipped buy themselves in a regular envelope. It was a nice collection of hooks and cork dust. I think an eye survived.
Perhaps the most fragile of all tackle items are bottles, as Dean Smith reported:
The worst packaging of a tackle related item I ever received was a bottle of reel oil in a bubble wrap envelope. When the mailman handed it to me the envelope was leaking. Not a good sign.
No indeed. But be careful about whom you blame, as Wendy, a former carrier, declared. She helps us to understand where the anger should be directed:
I can't tell you how many pathetic packing jobs I'd delivered back when I was a Carrier (a.k.a. "Street Walker").
I truly COMMEND you ALL for going to the sources with your grievances!!!
You would NOT believe how much hollering and shouting aimed at the mailman goes on when one of these "gems" gets delivered! Honestly, mailmen usually have a 'sneak up on house, drop and run' attitude when one of these messes needs delivered---to spare themselves the tirades.
Worst is come Christmas time. What possesses people to mail ceramic ornaments in white envelopes, and think all will be well because they stuck a stamp on it and wrote "Fragile"??
I, too, have had the white envelope with tell-tale (bent!!) hooks sticking out of it. Have posted before about the dreaded bubble wrap envelopes. Had the pile of lures mailed in a box with nothing else, opened to play the game of "Barrel of Monkeys" with fishing lures.
Mark Scearce had a different kind (but still valid) grievance:
I too have one to add, I purchased a jointed musky bait off the web. Waiting with child like energy for this thing to arrive. When it did, not only was it the wrong bait, the treble hooks were wraped very well in electrical tape. On a hot day! It took me 30 minutes to cut, rip and tear all the tape off all the while getting hooked by the newly freed barbs. Then additional time spend getting glue off the hook barbs. When large amounts of money are spent as you gentlemen have done could surely add to the joys of mail orders. Mr. Yates your page is a huge blessing on many levels.
So apparently my horrible packaging job was not unique, although this is certainly a club you don't want to join!
-- Dr. Todd
Awhile back, I posted about the worst packaging job I had ever seen. On a number of boards as well as by email, this post received a lot of interesting commentary. I've culled them for some of the best (or is it worst?) packaging stories around.
Some of the stories certainly exceeded my own in both damage and shocking negligence.
For example, a poster identified only as Basscaster declared:
I had a UPS guy deliver 2 Loomis crankbait rods to Menards where they were taken out of [the] tubes and stolen. I actually went up to front desk to get [the] rods and the manager would not let me talk to the delivery guys in back. I also had a 7 ft. bass rod packed in 3 triangle boxes taped together. Rod came broke in half with boxes barely attached together.
Ouch. Rods seemed to be a popular subject. Tom Eidson reported on a "Five Foot Bamboo Rod in a 4'10" Box." As he noted:
As you might expect rod became a 4 ft 10 rod. Seller's reply was duh!!!
Jason G. reported another ridiculous packaging job:
I bought a dealer carton of The Hooker lures. There were several lures new in their boxes. The dealer carton was printed up to look like a big treasure chest. They put tape all over the dealer carton and used it as the shipping box.
A similar experience befell Phil White, who reported a number of horrifying experiences, but this may be the worst of all:
One story I forgot was the one about the reel in box that I bought on eBay. The seller put the reel back in the original box, taped it up and put the label on the reel box and sent it to me. Really nice!
Lest we might think that was an isolated incident, Jeff Kieny is here to prove us wrong:
I once received a lure that I had paid Priority Mail w/ insurance on arrive in a very thin, used, cheap cardboard box about 8"x8"x8", shipped first class with no insurance. But the real story is the lure had been dropped into the box with NO PACKING MATERIALS OF ANY KIND ANYWHERE! Simply nothing - Rattling around completely loose inside was JUST the lure. Amazing...
Seriously, that could not be more ridiculous if you tried. Unless, of course, you were getting a box of reels like poor Terry:
I have had some of the worst packing jobs ever... lures that arrived today were jammed into their boxes, hooks jabbing, unprotected into the paint... and then sent in a large box, with not quite enough packing to keep them from doing damage. I have had this several times before , and also with expensive reels last month. 1 light bubble wrap , poorly covering the reels in a box with virtually no packing...all reels banging together!
Reels seem to be difficult for some people to handle. As Bill in Florida found out:
I bought a lot of @15 reels off ebay once , they were just put in a box with NO packing material , by the time they arrived about half had broken parts and all were very dinged up . Most of the time everything is packed well and arrives in one piece.
Ken Vick from the great state of Arkansas had a unique experience:
The very worst was a lure from the other place was a lure I purchased. The box was big enough to put a basketball in there was one lure no packing just rattleing around in the box no nothing but lure Think I was charged 5.80 for shipping and handling Guess it cost to sling the darn thing in the Box!!! Oh Well it got here at least!!!
Wesley Ooms had a terrible experience that has likely never been repeated:
Bought a group of 12-15 baits, including an early Pflueger Wizard and a Heddon Killer. Gave instructions to carefully wrap each bait separately. Needless to say . . . ...the baits arrived in a box. A METAL box, and all of the baits gnarled in a ball of treble festooned barbs. No packing, no padding, just baits bouncing around.
Lucky Mike Hall had lightning strike twice:
Had a guy...send me a Paw Paw fly on a card in only an envelope, it arrived smashed. I let him know about it, he sent another the same way. Smashed again.
Even fly rod lures are not immune, as Chris Diestel reported:
A nice lot of fly baits(Heddon tied leg pop eye frog being one) shipped buy themselves in a regular envelope. It was a nice collection of hooks and cork dust. I think an eye survived.
Perhaps the most fragile of all tackle items are bottles, as Dean Smith reported:
The worst packaging of a tackle related item I ever received was a bottle of reel oil in a bubble wrap envelope. When the mailman handed it to me the envelope was leaking. Not a good sign.
No indeed. But be careful about whom you blame, as Wendy, a former carrier, declared. She helps us to understand where the anger should be directed:
I can't tell you how many pathetic packing jobs I'd delivered back when I was a Carrier (a.k.a. "Street Walker").
I truly COMMEND you ALL for going to the sources with your grievances!!!
You would NOT believe how much hollering and shouting aimed at the mailman goes on when one of these "gems" gets delivered! Honestly, mailmen usually have a 'sneak up on house, drop and run' attitude when one of these messes needs delivered---to spare themselves the tirades.
Worst is come Christmas time. What possesses people to mail ceramic ornaments in white envelopes, and think all will be well because they stuck a stamp on it and wrote "Fragile"??
I, too, have had the white envelope with tell-tale (bent!!) hooks sticking out of it. Have posted before about the dreaded bubble wrap envelopes. Had the pile of lures mailed in a box with nothing else, opened to play the game of "Barrel of Monkeys" with fishing lures.
Mark Scearce had a different kind (but still valid) grievance:
I too have one to add, I purchased a jointed musky bait off the web. Waiting with child like energy for this thing to arrive. When it did, not only was it the wrong bait, the treble hooks were wraped very well in electrical tape. On a hot day! It took me 30 minutes to cut, rip and tear all the tape off all the while getting hooked by the newly freed barbs. Then additional time spend getting glue off the hook barbs. When large amounts of money are spent as you gentlemen have done could surely add to the joys of mail orders. Mr. Yates your page is a huge blessing on many levels.
So apparently my horrible packaging job was not unique, although this is certainly a club you don't want to join!
-- Dr. Todd
Thursday, November 27, 2008
7 Things to be Thankful For Today (Again)
7 Things to be Thankful For Today (Again)
Last year I wrote a little piece called "7 Things to be Thankful For Today" and was gratified by the response. Today, I list the 7 things I am thankful for this year (I didn't include Steve Vernon's Turkey Fishing Reel but I certainly could have).
1) Fishing With Family. How often do we take fishing for granted? After all, if you're here reading this blog you either collect fishing tackle or are interested in the history of the sport. But I am sometimes surprised at how few people take the time to put down the trials and tribulations of life and just pick up a fishing rod. This year, I am thankful for the opportunities I had to fish with family and friends.
2) The Internet. When I first ran across the internet back in the late 1980s at the University of Minnesota (remember Gopher?) I could never have envisioned that it would change the world. But a veritable information revolution has occurred, and it has altered the very way we live. It made Angler's On-Line, Clark's, Joe Yates' Board, eBay and my Fishing for History Blog a possibility. What does the future hold? I don't know, but if the past is any indicator, it will be a blast.
3) The NFLCC Nationals. Is there any place more fun than Nationals? It's like having access to the world's greatest private museum of fishing tackle, much of it you can actually purchase or trade for if you so desire. It was such a gratifying experience talking to so many at my table this past nationals in Peoria. I was also proud to help launch Jeff Kieny and Don Wheeler's new books, it was just such a palpably happy place. I can't imagine my collecting year without it.
4) Health. My wife has recently undergone a rather serious health issue, and it only underscores the fact that no matter what happens in any other aspect of your life, if you don't have your health the rest will suffer accordingly. So I am thankful for my health, and wish good health to everyone out there--and if you happen to be facing a trying time, I wish you strength to see yourself or loved ones through the storm.
5) ORCA. The Old Reel Collector's Association is truly one of the greatest clubs of its type in the world. Of course many ORCA members are also belong to the NFLCC, FATC, etc., but as a reel collector I absolutely think ORCA is the Bee's Knees. Its publication The Reel News edited by my friend Richard Lodge is a world-class magazine that prints reams of information about fishing reels and other tackle that has never before seen print. I can't imagine any serious collector, even if you don't collect reels, not being a member just to get The Reel News.
6) Dudley Murphy. Not only is Dudley the founder of the NFLCC, but for almost TWO DECADES he has edited (ably assisted by Gary Smith) the premier publication in the world on fishing and fishing history: The NFLCC Magazine. Knowing a little bit about publishing, and having contributed often to The Magazine, I have an idea of the kind of work that goes into it. It's staggering. I think most people would be shocked to realize just how much of a labor of love this is for Dudley--and almost everyone takes it for granted we'll receive twice per year a magazine that looks, feels, and reads like the best glossy publications available. Take some time in the coming year to call, write, or stop Dudley and tell him how much you appreciate all the hard work he does. A few unexpected kind words can go a long ways.
7) Being an American. Regardless of your political affiliation, we have just witnessed a remarkable event in American history in the past election. While I respect other cultures--I am a first-generation American after all--I simply can't imagine wanting to be anything but an American. Ever. And yet we so often take for granted the liberties that our best and brightest are out fighting to protect every single day. But as one of my former student officers, who is just now being sent over to Iraq, declared in a class I taught on World War I: "I will fight, and if necessary die, for your right to disagree with me." God bless this nation, the people who protect it, and all of its citizens everywhere.
-- Dr. Todd
Last year I wrote a little piece called "7 Things to be Thankful For Today" and was gratified by the response. Today, I list the 7 things I am thankful for this year (I didn't include Steve Vernon's Turkey Fishing Reel but I certainly could have).
1) Fishing With Family. How often do we take fishing for granted? After all, if you're here reading this blog you either collect fishing tackle or are interested in the history of the sport. But I am sometimes surprised at how few people take the time to put down the trials and tribulations of life and just pick up a fishing rod. This year, I am thankful for the opportunities I had to fish with family and friends.
2) The Internet. When I first ran across the internet back in the late 1980s at the University of Minnesota (remember Gopher?) I could never have envisioned that it would change the world. But a veritable information revolution has occurred, and it has altered the very way we live. It made Angler's On-Line, Clark's, Joe Yates' Board, eBay and my Fishing for History Blog a possibility. What does the future hold? I don't know, but if the past is any indicator, it will be a blast.
3) The NFLCC Nationals. Is there any place more fun than Nationals? It's like having access to the world's greatest private museum of fishing tackle, much of it you can actually purchase or trade for if you so desire. It was such a gratifying experience talking to so many at my table this past nationals in Peoria. I was also proud to help launch Jeff Kieny and Don Wheeler's new books, it was just such a palpably happy place. I can't imagine my collecting year without it.
4) Health. My wife has recently undergone a rather serious health issue, and it only underscores the fact that no matter what happens in any other aspect of your life, if you don't have your health the rest will suffer accordingly. So I am thankful for my health, and wish good health to everyone out there--and if you happen to be facing a trying time, I wish you strength to see yourself or loved ones through the storm.
5) ORCA. The Old Reel Collector's Association is truly one of the greatest clubs of its type in the world. Of course many ORCA members are also belong to the NFLCC, FATC, etc., but as a reel collector I absolutely think ORCA is the Bee's Knees. Its publication The Reel News edited by my friend Richard Lodge is a world-class magazine that prints reams of information about fishing reels and other tackle that has never before seen print. I can't imagine any serious collector, even if you don't collect reels, not being a member just to get The Reel News.
6) Dudley Murphy. Not only is Dudley the founder of the NFLCC, but for almost TWO DECADES he has edited (ably assisted by Gary Smith) the premier publication in the world on fishing and fishing history: The NFLCC Magazine. Knowing a little bit about publishing, and having contributed often to The Magazine, I have an idea of the kind of work that goes into it. It's staggering. I think most people would be shocked to realize just how much of a labor of love this is for Dudley--and almost everyone takes it for granted we'll receive twice per year a magazine that looks, feels, and reads like the best glossy publications available. Take some time in the coming year to call, write, or stop Dudley and tell him how much you appreciate all the hard work he does. A few unexpected kind words can go a long ways.
7) Being an American. Regardless of your political affiliation, we have just witnessed a remarkable event in American history in the past election. While I respect other cultures--I am a first-generation American after all--I simply can't imagine wanting to be anything but an American. Ever. And yet we so often take for granted the liberties that our best and brightest are out fighting to protect every single day. But as one of my former student officers, who is just now being sent over to Iraq, declared in a class I taught on World War I: "I will fight, and if necessary die, for your right to disagree with me." God bless this nation, the people who protect it, and all of its citizens everywhere.
-- Dr. Todd
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Lang's: Final Thoughts by Tim Clancy
Not to flog a dead horse, but the discussion that the recent Lang's auction (which for those who don't know actually finished at approximately $1.4 million, or right in the middle of the auction estimates--almost exactly at the same place as the last three Lang's auctions) caused more people to write long, detailed emails than any subject in recent memory. I guess only repaints inspires as much discourse as the variable price of fishing tackle...I've said my peace here and on Joe's and ORCA and Clark's and other boards about how I think this auction does NOT indicate a seriously weakened market, but you can respectfully disagree with me.
I'll leave the last word to Tim Clancy, as he is one of the few people who can actually speak about this last auction with real clarity as he consigned an important collection to it. Again, the "sky is falling" club will be surprised to learn Tim's overall assessment: "I was more than pleased with the overall results." But read it for yourself as it is a wonderful piece and I thank Tim for taking the time to write this, and to share this with all of us. It is exactly why I started this blog in the first place--to have a frank and open dialogue on issues of importance to us and to share information on the history of fishing.
Thoughts on Lang's
by Tim Clancy
I saw some of the discussion on Dr. Todd’s blog concerning the results of the recent Lang’s Auction and what some folks thought it meant for the future of our hobby. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the economy and it is going to affect the values of collections as more people find themselves with less discretionary income.
I don’t know rods, reels, art or books very well, but I am a long time (12+years) lure collector and feel I understand that arena fairly well. Plus I had about 60 lots in this recent auction and have had some time to analyze how my stuff performed. Some may wonder why I was selling some of my collection, because we have seen some large very advanced collections come to Lang’s over the last few years. Everybody sells for different reasons and mine is probably different than most.
I’m not getting out of the hobby (I just picked up a real pricey piece a couple of weeks ago) but I have acquired an interest in another field and was thinking about selling off part of my collection so I would have some money to pursue that….I was also aware that some very extraordinary stuff was going to be consigned by other collectors and that this auction would likely draw a little more attention than usual. That can be a double edged sword though because with so much high quality stuff in one auction some people could run out of money before my stuff even came up. It takes at least two bidders to drive the price.
John Ganung, from Lang’s, came to my home a few months month ago to pick up my items, and even then the economic landscape was not looking real rosey. But I decided to sell most of the better stuff I was bringing to shows that just hadn’t sold. Maybe I had them priced too high or maybe since I basically just do the Allentown Show not enough collectors were seeing them. I also had some neat items that I had found in the field, not really fishing related but of things you often see in Lang’s and generally go for a fair price. I had no idea what they were worth and the only way to find out was in an auction. I had bought stuff like this myself at Lang’s many times over the years. So off they went, along with my show baits.
The next group was the scary part. I put one of my four major or what I felt were my permanent collections in auction. It took me awhile to decide which one would go on the auction block but my goal was to raise some significant money for this new hobby. So something good had to go. The collection was what we all call a mature collection and probably in the top three of what is known to exist. But there are always some secretive closet collectors out there that have some real gems that no one even knows about. But this would be the largest collection of its type to ever go to auction. When a John Ganung is sitting in your house and holding a bait in his hand and says, “I knew this was out there but I never saw one or held one my hand” you know you got some good stuff.
But this is how it all worked out for me. Believe me it was nerve wracking, I did not have one reserve on anything. It was all going to sell for what the market would bear. But, it seemed each week as we got closer to the auction more, more bleak economic news came out.
The first group were 11 lots of those odd wall hanging type items I mentioned and they performed miserably. In the past these type items had always done well, because what’s a couple of hundred dollars for something that is really great looking, when you’re spending thousands on baits. But I realized less than 50% of the appraised values on this group. The only good thing was that they were not real valuable so the dollar amount was not too painful. But I was getting off to a bad start.
Next came eleven early rare misc. baits that covered different value ranges but averaged about $600-$700 in appraised value. Four fell in the range but seven came in about 40% below the low appraisal amount. This was starting to hurt. I was now over $3,000 below the average appraised amount and I had a long way to go.
Next group were eleven, I guess mid range misc. Heddon baits, that were appraised on average in the $300-$400 range. Just over half fell in the appraised range and for the most part the ones that fell short realized about 80% of value. There was one outliner that fell way short but I think, that while it was an extraordinary bait, the appraisal was a little too generous and I was actually fine with the price realized. So things were starting to look a little better.
But next up was that mature collection that took me 12 years and quite a bit of money to assemble. This group was nearly thirty different lots, some with multiple baits. There was no real pattern here. Some real great conditioned things went cheap, some fell right in the range and some went over the high end of the appraisal. But what made the day for me was that more than a handful of the rarest baits went way over the high appraisal range. Since this was all very high end stuff the dollar amounts more than made up for some of the earlier losses. Everything I had in auction was appraised at between $20K-$30K and when everything was said and done I fell just a little under the mid range. All things considered, I was more than pleased with the overall results.
But what does this thumbnail sketch tell us about the direction of our hobby in these uncertain times? Well first there is still a lot of interest in this hobby, 2400 lots in two days, is pretty remarkable. Next, the rarest of the rare will always command a good price. When you own baits that there are only a handful known to exist, you’re not going to get hurt if you ever decide or need to cash out. Also if you are true collector this is a great time to buy because there are some great opportunities out there. I know right now some of the folks that bought some of my stuff are still looking at their newly acquired baits saying “I can’t believe I got this so cheap.” Enjoy them like I did. It took me over ten years, and several upgrades to put that group together. But don’t worry about me because those ultra rare ones left me just fine.
To the folks that stepped up and now own those toughies enjoy them because you probably won’t see another opportunity anytime soon to add baits that rare to your collection. And to whoever got my Donaly Weedless, please really enjoy that one, that is one of the rarest misc. baits out there…But most of all only collect because you truly enjoy it and not for some future anticipated profit and spend within your means and you’ll never be disappointed. If 12 years ago my real passion was golf and I joined a prestigious Country Club, or if I wanted to fish the pro circuit and bout a spanking new Ranger boat, I wouldn’t expect to be getting any money back after enjoying my hobby for a dozen years. This is a great hobby and we never really own any of this anyway, we’re really just temporary caretakers. When you’re long gone I suspect those baits you cherish today will be in someone else’s collection where they’ll get to enjoy them for a while.
What’s the future hold? What are the values going to be? What Clyde Harbin said so many years ago rings just as true today. “something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay." So just enjoy collecting for collecting's sake.
A thoughtful article and one that should give everyone, regardless of their position, food for thought. I want to personally thank everyone for taking the time to write me personally or who posted on the many active boards on-line about the subject. This is a sensational hobby and in trying times like this, we need to gravitate towards those things that are the most rewarding. I can't imagine another hobby as rewarding as this one.
-- Dr. Todd
I'll leave the last word to Tim Clancy, as he is one of the few people who can actually speak about this last auction with real clarity as he consigned an important collection to it. Again, the "sky is falling" club will be surprised to learn Tim's overall assessment: "I was more than pleased with the overall results." But read it for yourself as it is a wonderful piece and I thank Tim for taking the time to write this, and to share this with all of us. It is exactly why I started this blog in the first place--to have a frank and open dialogue on issues of importance to us and to share information on the history of fishing.
I saw some of the discussion on Dr. Todd’s blog concerning the results of the recent Lang’s Auction and what some folks thought it meant for the future of our hobby. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the economy and it is going to affect the values of collections as more people find themselves with less discretionary income.
I don’t know rods, reels, art or books very well, but I am a long time (12+years) lure collector and feel I understand that arena fairly well. Plus I had about 60 lots in this recent auction and have had some time to analyze how my stuff performed. Some may wonder why I was selling some of my collection, because we have seen some large very advanced collections come to Lang’s over the last few years. Everybody sells for different reasons and mine is probably different than most.
I’m not getting out of the hobby (I just picked up a real pricey piece a couple of weeks ago) but I have acquired an interest in another field and was thinking about selling off part of my collection so I would have some money to pursue that….I was also aware that some very extraordinary stuff was going to be consigned by other collectors and that this auction would likely draw a little more attention than usual. That can be a double edged sword though because with so much high quality stuff in one auction some people could run out of money before my stuff even came up. It takes at least two bidders to drive the price.
John Ganung, from Lang’s, came to my home a few months month ago to pick up my items, and even then the economic landscape was not looking real rosey. But I decided to sell most of the better stuff I was bringing to shows that just hadn’t sold. Maybe I had them priced too high or maybe since I basically just do the Allentown Show not enough collectors were seeing them. I also had some neat items that I had found in the field, not really fishing related but of things you often see in Lang’s and generally go for a fair price. I had no idea what they were worth and the only way to find out was in an auction. I had bought stuff like this myself at Lang’s many times over the years. So off they went, along with my show baits.
The next group was the scary part. I put one of my four major or what I felt were my permanent collections in auction. It took me awhile to decide which one would go on the auction block but my goal was to raise some significant money for this new hobby. So something good had to go. The collection was what we all call a mature collection and probably in the top three of what is known to exist. But there are always some secretive closet collectors out there that have some real gems that no one even knows about. But this would be the largest collection of its type to ever go to auction. When a John Ganung is sitting in your house and holding a bait in his hand and says, “I knew this was out there but I never saw one or held one my hand” you know you got some good stuff.
But this is how it all worked out for me. Believe me it was nerve wracking, I did not have one reserve on anything. It was all going to sell for what the market would bear. But, it seemed each week as we got closer to the auction more, more bleak economic news came out.
The first group were 11 lots of those odd wall hanging type items I mentioned and they performed miserably. In the past these type items had always done well, because what’s a couple of hundred dollars for something that is really great looking, when you’re spending thousands on baits. But I realized less than 50% of the appraised values on this group. The only good thing was that they were not real valuable so the dollar amount was not too painful. But I was getting off to a bad start.
Next came eleven early rare misc. baits that covered different value ranges but averaged about $600-$700 in appraised value. Four fell in the range but seven came in about 40% below the low appraisal amount. This was starting to hurt. I was now over $3,000 below the average appraised amount and I had a long way to go.
Next group were eleven, I guess mid range misc. Heddon baits, that were appraised on average in the $300-$400 range. Just over half fell in the appraised range and for the most part the ones that fell short realized about 80% of value. There was one outliner that fell way short but I think, that while it was an extraordinary bait, the appraisal was a little too generous and I was actually fine with the price realized. So things were starting to look a little better.
But next up was that mature collection that took me 12 years and quite a bit of money to assemble. This group was nearly thirty different lots, some with multiple baits. There was no real pattern here. Some real great conditioned things went cheap, some fell right in the range and some went over the high end of the appraisal. But what made the day for me was that more than a handful of the rarest baits went way over the high appraisal range. Since this was all very high end stuff the dollar amounts more than made up for some of the earlier losses. Everything I had in auction was appraised at between $20K-$30K and when everything was said and done I fell just a little under the mid range. All things considered, I was more than pleased with the overall results.
But what does this thumbnail sketch tell us about the direction of our hobby in these uncertain times? Well first there is still a lot of interest in this hobby, 2400 lots in two days, is pretty remarkable. Next, the rarest of the rare will always command a good price. When you own baits that there are only a handful known to exist, you’re not going to get hurt if you ever decide or need to cash out. Also if you are true collector this is a great time to buy because there are some great opportunities out there. I know right now some of the folks that bought some of my stuff are still looking at their newly acquired baits saying “I can’t believe I got this so cheap.” Enjoy them like I did. It took me over ten years, and several upgrades to put that group together. But don’t worry about me because those ultra rare ones left me just fine.
To the folks that stepped up and now own those toughies enjoy them because you probably won’t see another opportunity anytime soon to add baits that rare to your collection. And to whoever got my Donaly Weedless, please really enjoy that one, that is one of the rarest misc. baits out there…But most of all only collect because you truly enjoy it and not for some future anticipated profit and spend within your means and you’ll never be disappointed. If 12 years ago my real passion was golf and I joined a prestigious Country Club, or if I wanted to fish the pro circuit and bout a spanking new Ranger boat, I wouldn’t expect to be getting any money back after enjoying my hobby for a dozen years. This is a great hobby and we never really own any of this anyway, we’re really just temporary caretakers. When you’re long gone I suspect those baits you cherish today will be in someone else’s collection where they’ll get to enjoy them for a while.
What’s the future hold? What are the values going to be? What Clyde Harbin said so many years ago rings just as true today. “something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay." So just enjoy collecting for collecting's sake.
A thoughtful article and one that should give everyone, regardless of their position, food for thought. I want to personally thank everyone for taking the time to write me personally or who posted on the many active boards on-line about the subject. This is a sensational hobby and in trying times like this, we need to gravitate towards those things that are the most rewarding. I can't imagine another hobby as rewarding as this one.
-- Dr. Todd
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Final Thoughts on Lang's (and Tackle Prices)
Final Thoughts on Lang's (and Tackle Prices)
With the latest Lang's in the books there has been some sizzling correspondence -- both public and private -- about the meaning of this auction. I think everyone agrees it was a once-in-a-generation accumulation of fishing tackle, in particular fishing reels. I think many people would agree that it also was a strange auction in that some prices were extremely high (see Vom Hofe, Edward) while other prices were depressed (see Pettengill).
Here are some actual statistics, not speculation. I randomly chose around 10 reel and lure auctions from each of the completed auction pages and saw whether they met the auction reserve (more on this later) or not. Guess what? The answers might not be what you thought. For the fishing lures I ended up randomly selecting 56 auctions. 30% did not meet auction estimates (many of these were one bid short, it might be added). 52% reached the auction estimate. But surprisingly to some, 18% exceeded auction estimates, some by a wide margin. So while the number of items that went below auction estimate was 10% higher in this random sample, that margin may very well have been offset by the fact that nearly 20% of the items exceeded pre-auction estimates. As an aside, why is it we only talk about those things that "underperform" and not those that "overperform?"
Conversely, I looked at a cross-section of 50 fishing reels and discovered that 64% came in below auction estimates (a number at over 33% below), 24% came in at auction estimate, and 12% exceeded auction estimates. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that some of the reels--especially the very high end ones--sold at veritable bargain prices. in fact, as one particularly knowledgeable collector noted, a number of reels sold for "once in a lifetime prices."
Armed with some actual evidence, instead of speculation, for what it's worth, and only after corresponding with dozens of peoples by phone and by email, here are my thoughts on the Lang's auction. In other words, what does this all mean?
1) The Sky Is Not Falling, Chicken Little. Despite the fact that some items--many people point to fishing reels exclusively but there were other tackle (see Pequea) that fit this description--in the most commonly used phrase of the day "underperformed," this does not mean that this auction does not represent a vibrant, healthy market. Certain items--the rare early wood minnow at $20,000, the Hosmer in the box at $15,000, the vom Hofe over $10,000, the Archimedean at $11,000--set record or near-record prices. Other items like the Helen Shaw collection did extremely well, considering just how much of it was auctioned off. Frog lures, Bagley, and other niche collectables were strong.
Were some areas lower than others? Of course. But what we should concentrate on is not the fact that one segment sold less well than others, but rather in one of the most trying economic times in history, the fishing tackle collectables market supported a very large and successful auction. That the money was allocated more in one area than another does not mean the sky is falling.
2) Auction Estimates Are Just That--Estimates. The fine folks at Lang's spend a lot of time and effort coming up with a pre-auction estimate. But in the end, it is exactly that--an estimate to give the bidder some idea of what similar items have sold for in the past. I think we put too much stock in an auction estimate, especially when it concerns high-ticket items, where we might be tempted to consider an item a failure if it reaches $10,000 but the pre-auction estimate was $12,000-$15,000. I think that is a mistake. Auctions are one particular moment in time. True values are built up over long periods of time, and reflect both up and down markets. At that time and place, the hypothetical item in question--for whatever reason--was worth $10,000. Next week it could be worth $12,000 again. This brings me to my next point...
3) Don't Be Fooled Into Thinking Prices Have Changed. I think my greatest fear--borne out through a number of conversations--is that people will automatically think this auction has reoriented the prices on tackle, particularly certain very rare items. That would be a mistake, but I'll put it in the words of a seasoned collector (who will remain anonymous) who has said it better than I can: "What I fear is that folks will use this as a benchmark and think that a Meek #44 is now worth $3500, or that Leonard fly reels are now worth $500. This is not the case. An auction is nothing more than a snap-shot in time and as such does not reflect true market conditions. Sure, it makes a statement, but it does not chart a new course." Absolutely dead on. Recent prices must be taken together as a group to give an idea on current market value. This leads me to my next point:
4) Sometime You Get the Bear, Sometimes the Bear Gets You. When it comes down to it, all auctions have an element of luck to them. You succeed because you are able to find two (or more) people who want your stuff enough to bid and have enough money to pay. Sometimes you get lucky--the aforementioned rare wooden minnow exceeded its generous pre-auction estimate by 25%. Sometimes you don't; several ultra-rare Philbrook & Paine reels dropped 1/3 below their pre-auction estimates. This auction came at a trying economic time, which coincided with several important collector friends of mine--for reasons that have little to do with the economy--sitting this one out. The absence of even a handful of these kinds of collectors can be reflected in a short term downward trend. This will always even itself out, but for this particular Lang's auction, it was an unlucky confluence of events.
The last four Lang's auctions have far exceeded expectations. This one did not, although I don't think it is cause for panic as some have recently declared (holding a funeral for fishing reels was funny, but not realistic). Three auctions in a row represent a trend. Or as the aforementioned anonymous wag declared, "While previous prices (at Lang's) bordered on the absurd, in this auction they did the same ...but in the opposite direction. The truth lies in the middle."
5) The Elitist Label Is Dead. I have heard people complain--and not just in the tackle field but in other sporting collectables areas--that auctions like Lang's only cater to the high end collector with deep pockets. This auction absolutely destroys that absurd belief forever. Even a beginning collector could find once-in-a-lifetime bargains here, lures and reels it would cost them 3-4X as much on eBay. In fact, I imagine you'll see a selection of these items coming up for sale very soon, and that they'll bring far more than the purchaser paid for them originally. The truth is that smart collectors live for auctions like this--and intelligence is what makes a beginning collector a seasoned veteran. After four consecutive "seller's" auctions, this one was a "buyer's" auction.
The bottom line is this: we are all extremely fortunate in this hobby to have a world-class auction twice per year. After all, collecting is cyclical, although we tend to remember this only when the wheel turns downward.
-- Dr. Todd
With the latest Lang's in the books there has been some sizzling correspondence -- both public and private -- about the meaning of this auction. I think everyone agrees it was a once-in-a-generation accumulation of fishing tackle, in particular fishing reels. I think many people would agree that it also was a strange auction in that some prices were extremely high (see Vom Hofe, Edward) while other prices were depressed (see Pettengill).
Here are some actual statistics, not speculation. I randomly chose around 10 reel and lure auctions from each of the completed auction pages and saw whether they met the auction reserve (more on this later) or not. Guess what? The answers might not be what you thought. For the fishing lures I ended up randomly selecting 56 auctions. 30% did not meet auction estimates (many of these were one bid short, it might be added). 52% reached the auction estimate. But surprisingly to some, 18% exceeded auction estimates, some by a wide margin. So while the number of items that went below auction estimate was 10% higher in this random sample, that margin may very well have been offset by the fact that nearly 20% of the items exceeded pre-auction estimates. As an aside, why is it we only talk about those things that "underperform" and not those that "overperform?"
Conversely, I looked at a cross-section of 50 fishing reels and discovered that 64% came in below auction estimates (a number at over 33% below), 24% came in at auction estimate, and 12% exceeded auction estimates. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that some of the reels--especially the very high end ones--sold at veritable bargain prices. in fact, as one particularly knowledgeable collector noted, a number of reels sold for "once in a lifetime prices."
Armed with some actual evidence, instead of speculation, for what it's worth, and only after corresponding with dozens of peoples by phone and by email, here are my thoughts on the Lang's auction. In other words, what does this all mean?
1) The Sky Is Not Falling, Chicken Little. Despite the fact that some items--many people point to fishing reels exclusively but there were other tackle (see Pequea) that fit this description--in the most commonly used phrase of the day "underperformed," this does not mean that this auction does not represent a vibrant, healthy market. Certain items--the rare early wood minnow at $20,000, the Hosmer in the box at $15,000, the vom Hofe over $10,000, the Archimedean at $11,000--set record or near-record prices. Other items like the Helen Shaw collection did extremely well, considering just how much of it was auctioned off. Frog lures, Bagley, and other niche collectables were strong.
Were some areas lower than others? Of course. But what we should concentrate on is not the fact that one segment sold less well than others, but rather in one of the most trying economic times in history, the fishing tackle collectables market supported a very large and successful auction. That the money was allocated more in one area than another does not mean the sky is falling.
2) Auction Estimates Are Just That--Estimates. The fine folks at Lang's spend a lot of time and effort coming up with a pre-auction estimate. But in the end, it is exactly that--an estimate to give the bidder some idea of what similar items have sold for in the past. I think we put too much stock in an auction estimate, especially when it concerns high-ticket items, where we might be tempted to consider an item a failure if it reaches $10,000 but the pre-auction estimate was $12,000-$15,000. I think that is a mistake. Auctions are one particular moment in time. True values are built up over long periods of time, and reflect both up and down markets. At that time and place, the hypothetical item in question--for whatever reason--was worth $10,000. Next week it could be worth $12,000 again. This brings me to my next point...
3) Don't Be Fooled Into Thinking Prices Have Changed. I think my greatest fear--borne out through a number of conversations--is that people will automatically think this auction has reoriented the prices on tackle, particularly certain very rare items. That would be a mistake, but I'll put it in the words of a seasoned collector (who will remain anonymous) who has said it better than I can: "What I fear is that folks will use this as a benchmark and think that a Meek #44 is now worth $3500, or that Leonard fly reels are now worth $500. This is not the case. An auction is nothing more than a snap-shot in time and as such does not reflect true market conditions. Sure, it makes a statement, but it does not chart a new course." Absolutely dead on. Recent prices must be taken together as a group to give an idea on current market value. This leads me to my next point:
4) Sometime You Get the Bear, Sometimes the Bear Gets You. When it comes down to it, all auctions have an element of luck to them. You succeed because you are able to find two (or more) people who want your stuff enough to bid and have enough money to pay. Sometimes you get lucky--the aforementioned rare wooden minnow exceeded its generous pre-auction estimate by 25%. Sometimes you don't; several ultra-rare Philbrook & Paine reels dropped 1/3 below their pre-auction estimates. This auction came at a trying economic time, which coincided with several important collector friends of mine--for reasons that have little to do with the economy--sitting this one out. The absence of even a handful of these kinds of collectors can be reflected in a short term downward trend. This will always even itself out, but for this particular Lang's auction, it was an unlucky confluence of events.
The last four Lang's auctions have far exceeded expectations. This one did not, although I don't think it is cause for panic as some have recently declared (holding a funeral for fishing reels was funny, but not realistic). Three auctions in a row represent a trend. Or as the aforementioned anonymous wag declared, "While previous prices (at Lang's) bordered on the absurd, in this auction they did the same ...but in the opposite direction. The truth lies in the middle."
5) The Elitist Label Is Dead. I have heard people complain--and not just in the tackle field but in other sporting collectables areas--that auctions like Lang's only cater to the high end collector with deep pockets. This auction absolutely destroys that absurd belief forever. Even a beginning collector could find once-in-a-lifetime bargains here, lures and reels it would cost them 3-4X as much on eBay. In fact, I imagine you'll see a selection of these items coming up for sale very soon, and that they'll bring far more than the purchaser paid for them originally. The truth is that smart collectors live for auctions like this--and intelligence is what makes a beginning collector a seasoned veteran. After four consecutive "seller's" auctions, this one was a "buyer's" auction.
The bottom line is this: we are all extremely fortunate in this hobby to have a world-class auction twice per year. After all, collecting is cyclical, although we tend to remember this only when the wheel turns downward.
-- Dr. Todd
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
AFTERNOON UPDATE: Worst Packaging Ever???
Worst Package Ever?
I just had to post this. 20 minutes ago my mailman showed up and handed me two packages. He says, "you're not going to like one of these."
I put the square box down and look at the wonderful package in the mail. I am showing the back side so as not to show the person's address--but suffice to say I knew immediately from the heft and by the fact the handle was sticking through the package that indeed, he has mailed me a reel in a bubble cushion envelope.
And not just a reel, but a pretty scarce Winchester fly reel at that. I mean, really...have you ever had a fishing reel mailed WITHOUT ANY WRAPPING (yes, that is exactly how it came out of the package) in just an envelope folded over??? I am flabbergasted. DOes this happen a lot? I know others buy a WHOLE LOT more tackle than I do, but I've got a plus feedback rating on eBay of nearly 4000 and not once have I ever had something like this occur before. Wild. It is amazing that there appears to be no major damage to the reel.
Just to balance it out, the other package was a heavy cardboard box wrapped in bulk thick paper, and each of the four reels separately wrapped with bubble wrap. Little chance these were going to get damaged.
So does this actual happen or did I just hit the lottery today?
-- Dr. Todd
I just had to post this. 20 minutes ago my mailman showed up and handed me two packages. He says, "you're not going to like one of these."
I put the square box down and look at the wonderful package in the mail. I am showing the back side so as not to show the person's address--but suffice to say I knew immediately from the heft and by the fact the handle was sticking through the package that indeed, he has mailed me a reel in a bubble cushion envelope.
And not just a reel, but a pretty scarce Winchester fly reel at that. I mean, really...have you ever had a fishing reel mailed WITHOUT ANY WRAPPING (yes, that is exactly how it came out of the package) in just an envelope folded over??? I am flabbergasted. DOes this happen a lot? I know others buy a WHOLE LOT more tackle than I do, but I've got a plus feedback rating on eBay of nearly 4000 and not once have I ever had something like this occur before. Wild. It is amazing that there appears to be no major damage to the reel.
Just to balance it out, the other package was a heavy cardboard box wrapped in bulk thick paper, and each of the four reels separately wrapped with bubble wrap. Little chance these were going to get damaged.
So does this actual happen or did I just hit the lottery today?
-- Dr. Todd
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Dr. Todd's Election Post: 101 Reasons Why You Should Vote
There are many reasons to vote in the upcoming election, but I take exception to the idea that you must vote this election day because of the magnitude of the event. Sure, the upcoming presidential election is important, but so is every single election day. The argument that you simply have to vote on Nov. 04 implies that in some years you can be excused for taking the day off, so to speak, from the electoral process.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It is imperative that you vote in every election, whether it is local, state or national—including this coming Tuesday. And if you need a reason, I’ll give you 101 of them.
(1) Vote because you love your nation.
(2) Vote because you’re disenchanted with your country.
(3) Vote because if you don’t, someone else’s vote has more power than it should.
(4) Vote because hundreds of thousands of men and women have died for your right to exercise your political freedoms.
(5) Vote because your mother and father did, and you honor them (and their memory) at the ballot box.
(6) Vote because you want change.
(7) Vote because you want to keep the status quo.
(8) Vote because if you don’t, you will never have the right to complain.
(9) Vote because the Ancient Greeks coined the word “idiot” to denote someone not interested in the political affairs of the nation.
(10) Vote because there are people who actively don’t want you to.
(11) Vote because there are people who work tirelessly (and for free) to make voting easier.
(12) Vote because it’s the only remedy for an ailing nation.
(13) Vote because no one can tell you whom to vote for.
(14) Vote because, as elections past and present constantly teach us, every vote counts.
(15) Vote because no one will vote for you.
(16) Vote because it makes you feel good.
(17) Vote because the billions of American that have voted in the past can’t be wrong.
(18) Vote because you’re a rebel.
(19) Vote because “conservative,” “liberal,” “red state” and “blue state” are loaded terms that no longer have any real meaning.
(20) Vote because somewhere, someone with a completely opposite viewpoint is voting.
(21) Vote because somewhere, someone with the exact same political vision is voting.
(22) Vote for the millions of Americans that never got the chance.
(23) Vote because people you don’t know and will never meet are depending on you.
(24) Vote because it’s your first election.
(25) Vote because it’s your fortieth election.
(26) Vote to celebrate what is good and right in the world.
(27) Vote to fix what is bad and wrong in the world.
(28) Vote today because no one is promised tomorrow.
(29) Vote because the road to ruination is paved with apathy.
(30) Vote because you’re tired of being part of the problem.
(31) Vote because it is uplifting to be a part of the solution.
(32) Vote because the children are watching.
(33) Vote because the world is watching.
(34) Vote to protect your constitutional rights.
(35) Vote because no matter what candidate you choose, we all wake up the next morning as Americans, united in our democratic tradition and stronger than we were the day before.
(36) Vote to end poverty.
(37) Vote to end hunger and disease.
(38) Vote to promote equality.
(39) Vote because there is NOTHING more anti-American than accusing someone of being anti-American because they disagree with you.
(40) Vote for every person anywhere who lives in a dictatorship and can’t vote.
(41) Vote because it is the only check and balance we have against tyranny.
(42) Vote because we are one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
(43) Vote so that your voice can be heard.
(44) Vote because one person can change the world.
(45) Vote because many people voting together can change history.
(46) Vote because it’s the American way, and that still stands for something.
(47) Vote to honor the memory of a loved one.
(48) Vote because you’re passionate.
(49) Vote because you’re a bit of a cold fish.
(50) Vote because you like Fox News.
(51) Vote because you hate Fox News.
(52) Vote because you have a choice.
(53) Vote because when you stand in the voting booth no one in America has more power than you.
(54) Vote because the opportunity to exercise this political power doesn’t come along very often.
(55) Vote because it makes you feel like an adult.
(56) Vote because it fills you with the wonderment of a child.
(57) Vote because it’s easy.
(58) Vote because it wasn’t always easy.
(59) Vote because the weather’s good.
(60) Vote because the weather’s bad.
(61) Vote to protect the right of free speech, even for those with views that differ markedly from your own.
(62) Vote because the media is saying your candidate won’t win.
(63) Vote because the media is saying your candidate will win.
(64) Vote because you should never, ever let the media tell you whom to vote for.
(65) Vote because you’re a member of a political party.
(66) Vote because you’re independent.
(67) Vote because the ballot box does not care about your age, color, gender, religious affiliation, socio-economic status, or sexual orientation.
(68) Vote because it’s your right.
(69) Vote because it’s your duty.
(70) Vote because it’s your obligation.
(71) Vote because you ran for class treasurer back in the sixth grade, and discovered you weren’t as popular as you thought you were.
(72) Vote to defend your nation from those implacable foes who seek to destroy it.
(73) Vote to celebrate our broad, diverse and inclusive culture.
(74) Vote because whom you vote for is nobody’s business but your own.
(75) Vote because your mother would be disappointed if you didn’t.
(76) Vote because the environment can’t
(77) Vote because someone else won’t.
(78) Vote because you get a free sticker that says “I Voted Today.”
(79) Vote because it’s cool (dorky Hollywood PSAs not withstanding).
(80) Vote because politics is not a game or a popularity contest.
(81) Vote to punish incompetent and corrupt politicians wherever they run.
(82) Vote because when you do, you become another thread holding together the patchwork quilt of American democracy.
(83) Vote because the local sports team won.
(84) Vote because the local sports team lost.
(85) Vote even if the local sports team is the Cincinnati Bengals.
(86) Vote because, with the exception of acts of God, there are no valid excuses for not voting.
(87) Vote because if you do, everything will be all right (eventually).
(88) Vote to show the world the system still works.
(89) Vote because of what might happen if you don’t.
(90) Vote because you’ve thought it out logically, and not because of fear or other base human instincts that negative advertising seeks to inculcate.
(91) Vote because as an American you are never alone.
(92) Vote because it leaves a fresh, minty aftertaste in your mouth.
(93) Vote to stick it to the man.
(94) Vote because hope springs eternal.
(95) Vote because there are no lost causes.
(96) Vote because you fought the good fight.
(97) Vote because history is waiting to judge us all.
(98) Vote because the idea of one person = one vote is worth dying for.
(99) Vote because you can.
(100) Vote because you should.
(101) Vote just because.
Just VOTE.
-- Dr. Todd (Cincinnati, OH)
Monday, September 1, 2008
Labor and the Fishing Tackle Industry
Labor and the Fishing Tackle Industry
(Reprinted from the 02 September 2007 Blog)
Today, the majority of us will celebrate the working man in America by watching a ball game, attending a fireworks celebration, or stuffing ourselves with burgers and hot dogs. I thought I would take a minute to reflect on the meaning of Labor Day as it concerns the history of fishing in America.
Labor Day had humble beginnings, being organized by the Central Labor Union and celebrated for the first time on Tuesday, 05 September 1882 in New York City. By 1884, the first Monday in September was chosen as the official Labor Day, and was soon widely emulated. The New York Times ran a detailed article on 07 September 1886 entitled "Parades in Other Cities: How Labor Day Was Observed by All Classes of Workmen." That year in New York City itself, 14,000 working men paraded before Mayor Grace. In 1894, it became an official federal holiday.
Labor Day Parade in Buffalo, NY, ca. 1900
The fishing tackle industry was largely built on the backs of the American working man and woman. It was one of the early industries to hire women in large numbers (almost all factory dressed flies were tied by women, and women predominated in the manufacture of fish hooks) and over the years offered gainful employment to hundreds of thousands of employees, American workers who built communities, raised families, and fought and died for their nation.
Mostly, these fishing tackle industry employees' names are lost to history. For every Charley Heddon or William Shakespeare, Jr., there were 100s of workers whose names we will never know but who designed, built, and packaged the tackle we use and collect. Fortunately, a few of their names and deeds have been preserved. People like Nettie Cruse, forewoman of the dressed fly division of Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Akron, Ohio, who died tragically in the great fire that consumed the Pflueger factory in 1891. Louis Valentine, who worked from 1906-1958 assembling Pflueger reels by hand, and who was thought to have completed 500,000 Pflueger Supremes in his lifetime. Don Martin, who left his position on the factory line at Shakespeare to join the Marines in 1941 and died in the Pacific fighting at Tarawa. I bought some Shakespeare spinner blanks from Don's baby sister who remembered that he had the kindest eyes.
Anonymous Shakespeare worker assembling reels at the Kalamazoo, MI factory
Organized Labor and the fishing tackle industry had at times a difficult relationship. Pflueger underwent a series of turbulent strikes in the 1930s, caught up in the labor turmoil in Akron spawned at the great rubber factories like Goodyear and Firestone. Shakespeare and Heddon suffered violent strikes in the post-World War II era, and even smaller companies like The Sunset Line & Twine Co. in California had labor problems that made national news. But these were exceptions; the majority of tackle companies, big and small, had placid relationships between management and labor. In fact, in my interviews with former employees of Pflueger I conducted in preparation for my next volume of Pflueger essays, everyone I talked to had nothing but good things to say about working in the tackle factory. From what I know of Shakespeare, Heddon, and other companies, there was a similar sense of community elsewhere too.
So this Labor Day, in between trips to the cooler or during the seventh inning stretch, pause for a moment and reflect how even in your chosen hobby--whether it is researching fishing history or collecting fishing tackle--the fingerprints of the American working man and woman are everywhere. They built your fishing tackle, and they built your nation.
Have a safe and happy Labor Day.
-- Dr. Todd
(Reprinted from the 02 September 2007 Blog)
Today, the majority of us will celebrate the working man in America by watching a ball game, attending a fireworks celebration, or stuffing ourselves with burgers and hot dogs. I thought I would take a minute to reflect on the meaning of Labor Day as it concerns the history of fishing in America.
Labor Day had humble beginnings, being organized by the Central Labor Union and celebrated for the first time on Tuesday, 05 September 1882 in New York City. By 1884, the first Monday in September was chosen as the official Labor Day, and was soon widely emulated. The New York Times ran a detailed article on 07 September 1886 entitled "Parades in Other Cities: How Labor Day Was Observed by All Classes of Workmen." That year in New York City itself, 14,000 working men paraded before Mayor Grace. In 1894, it became an official federal holiday.
The fishing tackle industry was largely built on the backs of the American working man and woman. It was one of the early industries to hire women in large numbers (almost all factory dressed flies were tied by women, and women predominated in the manufacture of fish hooks) and over the years offered gainful employment to hundreds of thousands of employees, American workers who built communities, raised families, and fought and died for their nation.
Mostly, these fishing tackle industry employees' names are lost to history. For every Charley Heddon or William Shakespeare, Jr., there were 100s of workers whose names we will never know but who designed, built, and packaged the tackle we use and collect. Fortunately, a few of their names and deeds have been preserved. People like Nettie Cruse, forewoman of the dressed fly division of Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Akron, Ohio, who died tragically in the great fire that consumed the Pflueger factory in 1891. Louis Valentine, who worked from 1906-1958 assembling Pflueger reels by hand, and who was thought to have completed 500,000 Pflueger Supremes in his lifetime. Don Martin, who left his position on the factory line at Shakespeare to join the Marines in 1941 and died in the Pacific fighting at Tarawa. I bought some Shakespeare spinner blanks from Don's baby sister who remembered that he had the kindest eyes.
Organized Labor and the fishing tackle industry had at times a difficult relationship. Pflueger underwent a series of turbulent strikes in the 1930s, caught up in the labor turmoil in Akron spawned at the great rubber factories like Goodyear and Firestone. Shakespeare and Heddon suffered violent strikes in the post-World War II era, and even smaller companies like The Sunset Line & Twine Co. in California had labor problems that made national news. But these were exceptions; the majority of tackle companies, big and small, had placid relationships between management and labor. In fact, in my interviews with former employees of Pflueger I conducted in preparation for my next volume of Pflueger essays, everyone I talked to had nothing but good things to say about working in the tackle factory. From what I know of Shakespeare, Heddon, and other companies, there was a similar sense of community elsewhere too.
So this Labor Day, in between trips to the cooler or during the seventh inning stretch, pause for a moment and reflect how even in your chosen hobby--whether it is researching fishing history or collecting fishing tackle--the fingerprints of the American working man and woman are everywhere. They built your fishing tackle, and they built your nation.
Have a safe and happy Labor Day.
-- Dr. Todd
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