Collectable Boat Cushions, Part II

The Collectable Boat Cushion, Part II
by Dr. Todd Larson
© 2008

To my great surprise, one of the most popular articles I wrote for the blog is the overview of collectable boat cushions; even though it has been almost a year since I posted it, it still gets a couple of dozen hits a week, mostly from Google searches. You can read the original article by Clicking Here.

As this has proven to be a popular theme, I thought I'd update it with some new information and more pictures of collectible boat cushions, along with a rough value guide built exclusively on following these on eBay over the past year. Keep in mind this is only a guide based on sold items; such things as color, condition, age, etc. affect the value of any collectible item, including cushions.

The Pin Up Boat Cushion
Basically, there are four categories of collectable boat cushions. The first category I call "Pin Up Cushions," as they feature a bevy of (usually) bikini clad women. Some are active (water skiiing, fishing, etc.) while others are passive. They are also the most valuable cushions by far, as they definitely are a cross-collectable item. Here are a few additional ones:


Water Ski Model, ca. 1950 ($40-$60)


Surfer Girl, ca. 1950 ($60-$80)


Another water ski girl, ca. 1955 ($50-$75)


Earlier water ski girl, ca. 1945 ($50-$75)


This pair of bathing beauties brought over $300

Fish-Themed Boat Cushions
A second category of collectable boat cushions and life preservers are fish-themed. These are always popular, and value depends on the kind of fish pictured. Saltwater fish tend to bring the most money, with sharks on top, followed by marlin, tarpon. etc. Freshwater fish are more affordable.


This Largemouth Bass model from the late 1960s increases in value as it pictures fishing lures ($20-$30)


Here is a second version of the above cushion ($20-$30)


This Marlin from the early 1970s came in original packaging ($40-$60)


An older version of the Leaping Sailfish ($30-$50)

Nautical Theme Boat Cushions
A third category is loosely called "Nautical Themes," and involves any cushion with a sailing, fishing, or sea motif. This is the largest of the cushion categories.


A nice 1950s motorboat cushion ($15-$25)


A later version of the same theme ($15-$25)


One of my favorites: the History of Anchors ($40-$60)


Generic boating theme ($10-$20)


Another generic boating theme ($10-$20)


The popular 1930s nautical knot tying cushion ($20-$30)


A 1950s Captain's Hat and Binocular cushion ($15-$25)


Lighthouse and Sailboat ca. 1960 ($10-$20)


Admiral Blackie's Knots, ca. 1950 ($15-$25)


One of my favorites: 1970s John Paul Jones Cushion ($30-$50)

Rules of the Road/Storm Warning Boat Cushions
The fourth and most commonly found category of cushions are the Rules of the Road/Storm Warning models.


Storm Warning cushions are always popular ($20-$30)


Admiral Blackie's version of the Storm Warning cushion ($20-$30)


A version of the Rules of the Road in blue ($10-$20)

Boat Cushion Resellers and Manufacturers
Lots of companies sold boat cushions, but the two largest were without doubt Montgomery Ward & Co., and Sears, Roebuck and Co., both giant mail order (and retail) companies based out of Chicago. These models can date from the 1910s to the 1980s, and cover pretty much the entire gamut of life preserver production.


There were also a huge number of manufacturers of boat cushions. Elgin of Elgin, Illinois sold a huge number of cushions through Sears. My adopted state of Ohio was home to two large boat cushion makers, the Safegard Corporation (Box 66, Station B, Cincinnati 22, Ohio) and American Pad & Textile Company (Greenfield, Ohio), who sold cushions under the Ta-Pat-Co name. Emporia, Kansas was home to the Crawford Manufacturing Co. that made seat cushions, and some of the more valuable preservers today were made in Philadelphia by the Ben-Sun Products Corporation. Admiral Blackie brand cushions were made by _____ in Dallas, Texas.



Concluding Remarks
I hope this better informs everyone about the collectable boat cushion. While I am not a boat cushion collector, I would definitely be on the lookout for the pin-up cushions which would go well with my fishing pin-up art collection (the subject of a furture article). I bet there are more than a few people out there who collect boat cushions, and so there is even ephemera to go with your preserver collection:


1930s stock certificate for the National Life Preserver Company

And once again, I'll comb the labyrinth of eBay and keep track of any neat Cushion developments for a future update.

-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: The Michigan Grayling, Part I

Over the next couple of weeks I want to concentrate on one of the sad stories in American fishing history: the death of the Michigan Grayling. A gorgeous fish who was once plentiful in Michigan, it went extinct by 1935. It is a sad tale with much to teach us about fish conservation. We will begin with an article from the 1904 Fort Wayne News describing its qualities as a gamefish.

Michigan Grayling: A Beautiful Fish


One of the handsomest game fishes in. American waters is the "grayling,” found more or less plentifully in Michigan. Formerly it was abundant in the Au Sable, Manntee, Marquette, Jordan, Pigeon and other rivers on the northern part of the southern peninsular. The grayling is purple gray with silvery reflections, darker on the back, the underside white; the sides of the head are of a bright bluish and bronze luster and the sides of the body are covered with, small, black, irregular dots.

At times the Detroit River, St. Clair flats and even Lake Michigan furnish good grayling fishing. Equipped with trout flies, a light rod and tackle, an enthusiastic angler is assured of sport when the grayling are rising. Unlike the trout, the grayling seldom misses the fly. At times it will rise many times to the lure but refuse to take it, and then suddenly dash for the fly like lightning and start off with it.

While the trout generally lies in pools, under banks or rocks, the grayling will be found in running water or at the bottom of deep pools, entirely in the open.

In casting for grayling, the fly should be dropped below the ripple, not above or in it as for trout Grayling will be found in schools generally, another untrout like habit.

The Montana grayling differs in appearance from the Michigan grayling, but is just as game a fish and will be found in the tributaries of the Missouri above Great Falls, in Sheep and Tenderfoot creeks, tributary of Smith river, in the Little Belt mountains, the Gallatin, Madison, Jefferson rivers and the tributaries of Red Rock Lake.

-- Dr. Todd

News of the Week: 16 June 2008

Monkeys who fish better than you...the return of the Thomas Rod Company...more on the tragedy at Lake Delton...an angler's boat is dedicated to a good cause...Bill Dance gets profiled...a tackle box used as a meth lab...an angling haberdasher...a dream of big musky...the new head of L&S tries to reinvent the fishing lure...it must be THE NEWS OF THE WEEK!

The Big Lead: In the most emailed story in Fishing for History's history, Scientists find monkeys who know how to fish; somewhere Charlton Heston is yelling "get your hands off my salmon, you damn dirty ape!"

The legendary Thomas Rod Company is back in business and gets written up in the Bangor Daily News.


A Heat Wave awakens the big largemouths.

The Toledo Blade opines on a group of fishing cronies who have angled for over four decades.


Australia's South Coast Register touts a trio of lures for bream and trout.

More on the Lake Delton disaster.


For those of you into the pro bass tour, Charlie Hartley keeps a regular blog over on ESPN.

Fishing World argues swim jigs are not just for largemouth.


There is some hot fishing in the everglades.

The Huntsville Times reviews the carrot stick.

A tale of mosquitos, flies, and fly fishing.

This fisherman's boats honors his wife's memory by promoting organ donation.

American Profile outlines the story of Bill Dance.

Fishing can be pretty sweet with Mr. Snook.

A popular fishing tackle owner shop passes away.

The Ruskin Woman's Club Catfish Tournament was a big hit.


From the I Expected a Heddon 150 File: An Athens, Ohio man goes dumpster diving and finds a meth lab inside a tackle box.

This haberdasher hopes to hook anglers with his fishing chapeaus.

The Fayetteville Museum of Art profiles the work of Yvette Dede, who makes oversized drawings of such mundane day-to-day items as fishing tackle.

The gas crisis is hurting anglers everywhere.

Canada's Wawatay News holds the great debate about baits.

Fly Expert Doug Olmstead gives his tips on striper fishing.


Dave Richey is dreaming of big musky.


Brian Thompson runs a one-man shop repairing rods and reels.


A fisherman is impressed with the effectiveness of artificial bait. Also marvels at something called an "autogyro" and gets all flummoxed by the new-fangled invention called a telephone.

The head of L&S Lures is trying to reinvent the lure.


-- Dr. Todd

BREAKING NEWS: Crisis at Lake Delton

There Used to be a Fishing Lake Here:
The Tragic Story of Lake Delton, Wisconsin

Lake Delton As it Was
“It rained. And it kept raining. Then it rained some more. And just when we thought that God had run out of water, it really started to pour.”


Lake Delton before the storm

Lake Delton after the storm (this and the following five photos courtesy of Marc T. Hanger
So a family member living in Madison, Wisconsin reported on the recent torrential rains that have inundated the Midwest with floods of nearly biblical proportions. From Iowa to Central Wisconsin, it is wall-to-wall water. Farm fields that should be ankle high in corn are under a foot or more of water; spill-over ditches that usually remain dry are running like rivers; meadows have turned into ponds; ponds have turned into lakes. And still the rains keep coming.


As of this writing, portions of I-80 coming out of Iowa and I-94 south of Madison are impassable due to flooding, as if some malevolent being sought to cut off any escape routes. But these hearty Midwesterners don’t cut and run. But the rains have even worn their legendary patience razor thin.


The Boat Landing at Lake Delton
No where is this more evident than Lake Delton, Wisconsin—a world class resort and fishing lake adjacent to the famed Wisconsin Dells. Or, to put it more accurately, used to be adjacent to the Dells. Because it is no longer there.

It is hard to imagine a lake that just disappeared, but incredibly, this is exactly what happened to Lake Delton. All last week, residents sandbagged and prepared for what certainly was going to be an epic flood. Many vacation homes as well as residential houses reside on this once-beautiful lake, and their owners feared the creeping water levels would erode shorelines, wash away docks, or even (God forbid) damage foundations.


Lake Delton shore line
No one could possibly have envisioned what actually happened: the lake simply disappeared. Where one of the most coveted vacation lakes in the nation once existed, now only mud, dirt, and dead fish remains. A muddy rivulet runs through the center of what was once a marvel, a man-made lake that everyone believed would always be there. They were wrong.

How could something like this happen? The dam at the end of Lake Delton did not fail, which would be most people’s first thoughts. Instead, the earth embankment next to the dam collapsed. At first a trickle, then a stream, then a torrent of water flowed through, until a breach thirty feet across began to drain the lake in earnest. Residents watched in complete shock as the lake simply went away; an hour and a half was all it took for a lake to disappear. 90 minutes and there used to be a fishing lake here.

So today, please take a moment out of your busy schedules to think nice thoughts of the many people affected by this unfortunate flood, and if you can, say a little extra prayer for the residents of Lake Delton, the lake that disappeared.

More info on the Lake Delton disaster can be found here:

Lake Delton Recovery

Videos and Pictures of the Lake Delton Disaster

It Looks Like the End of the World

-- Dr. Todd

Friday Funhouse

The Friday Funhouse
Video of the Week

So...you think that three pound largemouth that jumped out of the water twice was an acrobat? Check out what a Mako Shark can do...it's not only one of the fastest fish in the sea, it is also a contortionist.



Things I Would Buy If I Could Afford Them

This huge Pflueger Musky Jointed Mustang Minnow is a very rare bird indeed.


A Julius vom Hofe trade reel marked for Dame, Stoddard & Kendall is a terrific find.


True 19th century New York reels rarely come to market; this Conroy reel made for Andrew Clerk & Co., predecessors to Abbey & Imbrie, is a beautiful exception.


Here is a new one to me: a South Bend Coffee Mug!


A CCBC Pikie Minnow in Pearl is one you don't see every day!


http://cgi.ebay.com/1939-Art-Deco-Fishing-Trophy-Denzler-White-Sea-Bass_W0QQitemZ160249487905 is a classic piece of Art Deco sculpture.


This left handed Mitchell 301 has attracted a lot of collector interest.


A Heddon Baby Vamp in Allen Stripey is a sweet bait.


Here's a new one to me: a Baldy's saltwater jig.


This Otto Zwarg Model 400 is a rare and highly desirable reel.


It must be the week for musky lures; this great #900 Moonlight Musky Pikaroon is a flat-out beauty.


This Heddon #700 Musky Minnow in green crackleback is incredibly rare, even with paint chips.


This late model Pflueger Supreme CK would make Bob Miller smile.


An early Kent Frog is one of my favorite all-time lures.



That's it for this week! Be good to each other, and yourself.

-- Dr. Todd

BREAKING NEWS: Dr. Todd on the Radio!

BREAKING NEWS: Dr. Todd on the Radio!

Fascinating. Tomorrow (Friday) at 8:30 a.m. I will be a guest on the Interstate Sportsman Radio Program, hosted by Brock Ray and Don Kirk. The program is on the VoiceAmerica Sports Channel and should be a blast.

The show is streamed from their web site. I don't know what to expect but certainly will enjoy myself!

-- Dr. Todd

A Review of the June 2008 NFLCC Magazine

A Review of the June 2008 NFLCC Magazine

This edition of the NFLCC Magazine (June 2008, Vol. 18, No. 1) is one of the strongest in recent memory.


Several months back, magazine editor Dudley Murphy asked if I would be interesting in penning a series of articles on terminal tackle. My answer was an enthusiastic “yes!” and so this issue inaugurates what I hope will be a four-year journey entitled “Hook, Line & Sinker,” covering the history of collectable hooks, sinkers, line spools, tins, etc. Hopefully it will inspire a few people to broaden their collecting interests. This edition brings the inaugural offering, “The Angler’s Angle, which is the first of two articles on the collectable fish hook.

There are also three additional awesome feature articles in the magazine this issue. The first is by two veteran writers, Rob Pavey and Bill Stuart, who contribute an excellent article on Georgia’s Vann-Clay lures. I was astounded how many variety of Vann-Clay lures were made—no wonder they are such a challenge to collect!

Dr. Harold E. Smith, author of the acclaimed Creek Chub book, gives us the skinny on the Shur-Strike lures of Gateway and W. Bingham (Uncle Tom), the CCBC lures which had military stencils on the back. A great piece of research on a subject of intense interest to a growing number of collectors.

A fourth major feature is Jerry Martin, Roger Grimball, and R.B. Craddock’s “Creek Chub Bait Company Hair Bodied Bugs,” a subject of murky speculation on eBay. This should dispel a number of myths about what is and isn’t a CCBC Hair Bug. As with all of the articles Jerry is associated with, it is well-written and researched.

Finally, we have my favorite feature—Gary Smith’s back page article. “All for One and One for All” features the Reynolds patent interchangeable minnow that became the Pflueger All-In-One. As with all of Gary’s articles, this one is another gem—tying it to the ill-fated ocean liner Lusitania.

The NFLCC Magazine is edited by Dudley Murphy, assisted by Gary Smith.

-- Dr. Todd

Dr. Todd's Mailbag: 11 June 2008

Dr. Todd's Mailbag
The last edition of the Mailbag seems to have been a popular addition to the site, so I am running a sequel. Keep the questions coming!

Dr. Todd,

I have been wondering for sometime when manufacturers
of metal baits started to use Chrome for plating some of their lures. I have a Chapman Safe Deposit that looks like it is chrome plated. I plate with silver and nickel in making some of my own baits and I know that this Chapman is not silver or nickel plated because it is just so shiny but weathered and old at the same time.

What do you think?

Philip A.

A great question to which I believe there is not a definitive answer. According to George Dubpernell’s “A History of Chromium Plating” (Plating & Surface Finishing, June 1984), chrome plating first came into widespread use in 1928, the fundamental principles of chromium electroplating not having been discovered until 1924. It wasn’t really popular until the early 1930s.

Theoretically it is possible it was used on lures in the 1880s and 1890s, and Chapman, being one of the largest of the manufacturers, might have done it. But it does not appear that it was likely that they did.

Chromium plating is a type of electroplating, which was invented in 1805 by Italian scientist Luigi V. Brugnatelli (don’t believe all the hype about “ancient batteries” as they are pure speculation). The inventor of the Bunsen burner (R. W. von Bunsen) actually produced limited samples of electro-deposited chromium in 1854 using chromium chloride solutions. Electroplating itself was a widespread industrial technique by the 1860s, with the British (of course) taking the lead and America following in the 1870s, but chrome was not one of the substances used. Chrome really became a household name in the 1940s and 1950s due to its use on automobiles.

So is your Chapman chrome plated? In a short answer: no. So, if it isn’t nickel or silver, what is it? German Silver perhaps (a nickel alloy), or burnished aluminum? Any speculation would be greatly appreciated…


Somewhere some scientist is chuckling about this…

References:
Dartmouth College has a great web site about chromium.

The Finishing Industry’s cool home page has lots of info on electroplating.

Web Elements Periodic Web Table

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Hello Dr. Todd,

I picked up a reel at this years [ORCA] national that I have a couple questions on.

It is exactly the same as a four brothers regal in every way. The markings on it are congress which if I remember is for Supplee-Biddle but above Congress there is a trademark I don't recognize.

It is a fish with an arrow through it. The fish points up at a slight angle and the arrow is horizontal.

Can you tell me anything about this reel as far as what that trademark is and what time period it came from? I would guess the late teens or early twenties. If you need or want some pictures let me know.

Robin S.

Dear Robin,

This is one of my favorite logo reels, made for Supplee-Biddle of Philadelphia (as you mentioned). It dates from the late 1920s or early 1930s, based on the three examples I own in my own collection.

The “speared fish logo” was actually originated by Supplee Hardware before they merged with Biddle Hardware around the start of WWI. It is one of the most distinctive and attractive logos, used on rods, reels, lures, ephemera, etc.


Shakespeare-made Congress Speared Fish logo reel
Interestingly, I believe these “speared fish logo” reels were brought in to fill the enormous gap left by the end of the Montague trade line (which began to be phased out in 1929 and culminated with its end in 1931). Shakespeare, like the one pictured, and Pflueger, like the one you own, stepped in by producing these beautiful trade reels for Supplee-Biddle.

References:
Dr. Todd E.A. Larson, “The Mark of Congress: The Fishing Tackle of the Supplee-Biddle Co.” (NFLCC Magazine, June 2006).

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Hello!

I have an authentic first edition (1881) of the original "Book of the Black Bass" by James A. Henshall, M.D. of Cynthiana, KY (and also Cincinnati, OH). It's in excellent condition, and very rare. I was researching the book when I found your website…When I received the book, I discovered, tucked away between the pages, two newspaper clippings from 1963 and 1964. The first article was about the AFTMA naming an award after Henshall, the second is about the unveiling of a historical marker commemorating Henshall, near Cynthiana. I live in Georgetown KY, about 15 miles from Cynthiana, and have seen this marker myself.

-- Margie B.

I love Henshallania, as we call anything related to Dr. James Alexander Henshall. I was not aware there is in fact a historical marker in Cynthiana, Kentucky devoted to the father of bass fishing in America! I discovered that it is located in Cynthiana, south of the I-27 bridge, and is Kentucky Historical Marker #651. Here is a photo of this cool marker, courtesy of the State of Kentucky:


Your First Edition should be worth good money as there were probably no more than 2500 copies of the first edition printed (and most of those sold by pre-order). It is one of the seminal works in American fishing history. As a Cynthiana native, it may interest you to know that he devotes a lot of space in his autobiography to his Civil War years spent there.

References:

The Autobiography of Dr. James A. Henshall , edited by Clyde Drury.

That’s it for this edition of Dr. Todd’s Mailbag!

-- Dr. Todd