A blast from the past

[JohnPowers]

I know it’s not unusual to come across some material bought in the distant past. Came upon a little envelop labeled SONNIES. Maybe from Hille 40 years ago. Tailing material I think...spade hackle. I’ll tie a sulfur with one.

 

[Dave_W]

Cool.
I still have some packets of various materials that were purchased back in the late 70s/80s.

 

[RLeep2]

One of the things about drawing ever closer to our "best if used by" date is some of the stuff we find in the seldom visited corners of our tying supplies. Here are just a few items I have found over the past 3-4 years:

A package of loose ginger saddle hackles from Herter's, circa 1966. Like a lot of Herter's stuff towards the end of their business run, they crumbled when removed from the bag..

A variety of carded (real metal) tinsel, fine chenille and yarns, all from Universal Vise in Massachusetts. All had the retail price printed right on the card. Most were 10 cents, a few were 20. Early 70's at latest.

Here's one for (primarily) Western PA folks. I was working on a Bugger pattern that suited me to imitate crawdads and found a package of ginger variant saddles from Steckler-Tibor in Stoneboro in Mercer County. Probably mid to late 70's. They were all usable and did not crumble when opened.

Lord only knows what else is down there lurking in the basement..

 

[Bamboozle]

Not as old but, got any Swannundaze...? ;-)

I also have some old packages of fly tying materials from long defunct fly shops:

Eyler's Sport Shop - Ardmore & later Bryn Mawr, PA

Cox Sport Shop - Bryn Mawr, PA

Windsor Fly Shop - Stroudsburg, PA (I miss Andy)

Yellow Breeches Fly Shop - Boiling Springs, PA (in the good old days when Tom Baltz & Ed Koch were there)

Angler's Roost - NYC (Jim Deren, 'nuff said...!!)

Bedford Sportsman - Bedford, NY (when Peter Phelps was proprietor)

Dette's Fly Shop - Roscoe, NY (when Walt was around)

And a few others I am forgetting at the moment...

 

[Tigereye]

I have eswannundaze and some old wooden hook "boxes". More like small wooden cylinders with a wood cap.

 

[sandfly]

Lots of old stuff, original honey bug, a few thousand swannundaze packs, older chenille (better than new stuff), old mustad hooks, etc. I specialize in older stuff here at my shop.

Personal collection goes back to the 30's and 40's

 

[troutbert]

Tigereye wrote:
I have eswannundaze and some old wooden hook "boxes". More like small wooden cylinders with a wood cap.

I've seen those wood hook containers.

What time period are those from?

I started flyfishing around 1970, and I don't ever recall seeing hooks for sale in those.

So those must have been from an earlier time.

 

[maxima12]

PAUL BERGER, HONEY BUG MATERIAL, GONE NOW! SON, HAD NO INTEREST. SONNIES, SIMPLY THAT, HILLE'S HAD NO INTEREST, OLD HERITAGE MATERIAL, SIMPLY THAT, NO INTEREST!

INTEREST IS IN WHAT YOU LOST OR WHAT YOU HAD. HOW ABOUT SOME INTEREST IN WHAT YOU GAINED!

SPEEDY TO BREAKFAST, SPEEDY TO LUNCH BUT EVER SO SLOW TO APPRECIATE PA. FISH AND BOAT COMMISSION.

I WATCH YOU GUYS, OUT OF HE CORNER OF MY EYE. SPEND LOT'S FOR NOTHING, ONLY A HOUR SUPPLY AND HOLD TIGHT, LIKE A WEASEL, ON A YEAR SUPPLY!

YEAR SUPPLY OF PA. FISHING LICENSE, SPENT IN A WEEK ON A SUPPLY OF WANTON WASTE! GLAMOUR AND GLITTER YOU WILL NEVER HAVE. WHY? YOU NEVER HELD THE FIRST TO GET THE SECOND! IF YOU HAD THE SECOND, YOU DID NOT KNOW HOW TO USE IT!

2NDS ANYONE! MAXIMA12

 

[Tigereye]

Troutbert. Not a sure of date of those wooden vials. The hooks were and a bunch of other vintage fly fishing gear belonged to my brother inlaws grand father. I am the only fly fisherman in both families and they knew I liked vintage and antique fly fishing "stuff"

By his age and some other goodies he had puts the date in the 40"s to late 50s early 60s. My guess is 50s

 

[MKern]

As an employee of Hille's before the last owner purchased it and moved locations, the amount of old tying materials and gear floating around the basement and upstairs of that place was amazing. We would also break down and package deer hair and various other materials; rather than just order them in.

Don't forget they sold in-line spinner bait parts too. A quarter of my day was spent filling online orders for spinners.