C F Orvis Fishing Rod Manufacturing Repairs and Sales. 1882-1898
Notes:
These records are handwritten in a large format account record book
At the start of this record it appears to be both repairs and sales.
Interesting notes like T.H. Payne Co., Leonard, Murphy rods, umbrella repair for Miss Cleghorn(VT author of note)
Rod id's that don't have CFO numbers would be indentified by the owners name, initial or other id.
C.F. Orvis Fishing Rod Catalog information Descriptions (accurate descriptions coming)
No 1 Fly and Bait Combination Rod
No 2 Fly and Bait Combination Rod 10 ft fly rod & 9ft Bass rod. detachable cork hand
No 3 Fly rod Ash butt (some spruce) lancewood mid and tips wound hand piece one short tip for bait Metal(?) Reel Seat
No 7 'The Coming Bass Rod' (for Black Bass) 8ft 3inches as suggested by Dr Henshall Ash butt with lancewood mids and tips
No 7 1/2 The same as No 7 but 9ft with rings.
No 8 All Lance Wood Fly Rod Length 10 feet, weight 8 oz. German Silver Mountings with Orivs Patent Reel seat. Butt second joint and tips all Lace-wood. Two fly tips and one bait tip; is whipped throughout with wil, like Split Bamboo Rods.
No 9 11 ft hex bamboo This rod is 11 feet long, in 3 pieces, has two tips, sack and round wood case, and is , I believe, an improvement on any split-bamboo rod before offered to anglers. With wound , Fluted or Sumac Hand-piece, $20 (1892)
No 9 1/2 10 ft hex bamboo Length 10 feet in three pieces, has two tips, sack and round wood case. German-silver etc... This rod is the same as No. 9, except that it is lighter. I feel sure that this will please those who desire a light 10-Split-Bamboo with Sumac or Fluted Hand-Piece. $20 Cork Hand-Piece, avail 1892
No 10 All lance-wood fly rod - length 11 feet. German silver patent reel seat two tips sack and round wood case, with wound, Sumac or Fluted hand-pieces
No 11 All lance wood fly rod length 10 feet. German silver mountings. patent reel-seat. two tips sack and round wood case, finished same as no 10 rod.Sumac - 10 ft.,
No 12 Bait Lancewood Henshall 8 - 3 B.W. grip
No 13 Bamboo 8 ft 3 in Henshall bass rod
No 13 1/2 Same as 13 but 9ft in length
No 14 11 ft Cheney Bass Hornbeam based on suggestions by AN Cheney
No 15 11 ft hex heavy bamboo Black Bass Fly Rod six strip Hexagonal 11 ft rings a strong rod for heavy fish
No 16 9ft Hexagonal Split Bamboo Fly Rod. Length 9 feet, in three pieces, cork hand piece, German silver Mountings, banded ferrules and Orvis Patent reel seat. Two tips ,sack and round wood case
No 17 Cork Ladies lance Rod
No 18 Light trolling Rod BW Butt Guides
interesting dates:
1870 first record of CF Orvis Rod Manufacturing making rods (Manchester Journal), 1874 the CF Orvis reel was patented, 1882 the Eggleston reel seat was patented, 1883 "Fishing with the Fly" was published, 1892 "Favorite Flies" was published, 1893 CF Orvis displayed flies at the Chicago Expo. C.F. Orvis Fishing Rod Manufacturing 1885 - 1898
Notes:
These entries are from the same handwritten large format account record book as the repair
It appears that the manufacturing record was started after the record of repairs because the repairs seem to have new rods included in the beginning of the record account book starting in the year 1883. These appear in the back of the record account and are out of sequence as if they started from the back and moved towards the front each year.
The second quality rods we have seen often are marked with an 'x' in the SN and are missing the 4 3 2 1 signature wraps.
SN's appear multiple times most often as different models. So to find a specific rod, the rod model must be known (see catalog descriptions)
Some descriptors are used multiple ways, for example most BW grips refer to black linen cord wrapped grips. However sometimes BW shows up for the fluted Black Walnut grip
