Vintage Fishing Reels of Sweden
By Dan Skupien
With the changing
collector habits, Dan Skupien's new book on Swedish fishing reels
should be of wide international interest. With a click of a mouse
collectors can now bid on products from all over the world. With this
new market interest is bound to grow internationally. Already we have
seen a tremendous interest growth in European spinning reels here in
the U.S., and many rare fixed spool reels are being sought after by
collectors from all over the globe. ABU reels have sparked the same
passion in bass fishermen and collectors, and they are certainly the
most famous of Swedish reels. However, with the help of this book we
can now learn about some wonderful other Swedish reels that are
available to collectors.
Author Dan Skupien is an Illinois native, who moved to Sweden with
his wife in 1998 to explore his roots. Reel collectors are
beneficiaries of this move, for this is a very complete book that
provides lots of previously unknown information for most reel
aficionados. The first 100 pages explore the well known ABU reels,
from the Record years up to the spinning and fly reels. Then we learn
of the reels of AB Radius (I knew them from my pack-in hunting trips -
they made fine gas stoves) and Nordic. Both companies made casting
reels very comparable to Bronson and Ocean City. Next the famous and
innovative Arjon reels are pictured and described in depth.
The River reels of Malte Blohms Fabriks AB are some of the most
colorful I have ever seen, and they produced some wild looking
products that collectors should drool over. Finally the reels of
Rainbow, Victory, and several smaller companies are discussed and
shown in great photographs.
There is a great deal of information for reel collectors to digest
in this book. If you've filled out your collection of Pflueger or
Shakespeare reels (ha!) and are looking for a new field, you might
want to purchase a copy of this book and begin your search on eBay.
Even if you aren't searching for something new, I'm sure you'll find
lots of things you never knew about fishing reels and Swedish reels in
particular. And then there are those eye-popping color photos for
those who don't like to read. It is a neat reference book, and should
be in most reel collectors library.
Vintage Fishing Reels of Sweden is a typical Schiffer Book
for Collectors. There are lots of wonderful color photos of reels and
their boxes, advertising, and catalogs. The format is a paper covered
hard back book that is 8.5 x 11 inches. The book contains 192 pages of
detailed information on very nice paper. It retails in the U.S. for
$39.95 plus $3.95 postage. Being from a major publisher, it should be
available in almost all book stores, or direct from the author or
publisher.
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