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The Pewabic and Its Antique Fishing Lure Treasure
One of our more eclectic fishing lure finds to date, as well as my personal historical
favorite has got to be this group of items.
These items were aboard the Pewabic ship which sunk in 1865. The article
provided by the Michigan history magazine can be seen below and read by
clicking this link.
As a collector and researcher of fishing lure history we as collectors have
been given only limited access to early materials due to the nature of the
antiquity itself. The things we know and learn as a neophyte collector we
learn from books, from fellow collectors and from the cookie crumbs of
history and lessons which befall us on our travels.
Take for instance below the stamped WD Chapman fishing lure. An example of The
Chapman lure below can be better seen on page 76 in the upper left corner in
Arlan Carters Lure book entitled 19th Century Fishing Lures. Arlan's book,
as I'm on about my 4th copy due to wear and use, is my favorite of all
collecting books due to its affiliation to pre 1900 tackle. No doubt if
you've collected a while you have this on your shelf, and if you don't you
should.
Anyone who has tried to research pre 1900 anything specifically antique
fishing lures knows we are at the whim
and mercy of the history gods for tiny bits and nuggets to create a picture
or a story by which the History itself to fill. Its not easy to find much of
anything related to fishing tackle in 1865. Why one might ask, well lets
take a moment and paint a picture of just what was relevant in 1865. With a
quick tap on your keyboard or flip through you encyclopedia you will find
that Abraham Lincoln was President of the US. He was assonated in April of
that year by John Wilkes Booth. The 13th amendment which abolished slavery
was created. The American Civil War was coming to an end. Names like General
Grant and Lee we no doubt used in commonplace at the dinner table. Other
great maritime tragedies such as the sinking of the steamboat SS Sultana
killing 1800 people occurred. So we try and put into perspective what we
know of companies and what the were doing at that time as a way of making
tangible sense to the cookie crumbs. We are not talking about the age or era
of Amazon.com type network distribution. We are talking about wagons,
carriages, steam engines, and salesman on horseback.
We are not speaking of the assembly line production era that Mr. Ford would
make popular 60 years from now.
It is known as
Arlan points out WD Chapmans first fishing lure patent was in 1866 and can be
seen here.
This is a full year after these antique fishing lures made their ill fated travels. The
lures in question also have type face errors on them. Not exactly the
quality control or workmanship we've know to come and love by the WD
Champman the Jeweler, the silversmith and maker of such lures that we as
metal collectors covet, the Safe Deposit Minnow, Combination Minnow,
Threaded Minnow and The Boss Bait. What then could we surmise based on the
evidence we have at hand. I would pose such questions as "Is this lure a pre
production lure"; Is this lure the first pre patent lure"? One can certainly
debate this, as the lure featured below was found by a diver on a ship
which sunk in 1865 and Chapman's first patent was in 1866.
Ill conclude with; As such as we read and gleam knowledge about
antique fishing lures from
books, and articles, and persons of knowledge of written fact. Pre 1900s
Antique Fishing Lure history is sparse at best the further we go backwards. We must
all do our fiduciary responsibilities as collectors to find and pass on as
well and
be willing to question and explore new facts as they come to light to
broaden our picture. As much
as we can learn from written works to date, to paint this historical
picture, we also must be able to inquire or
question what we thought we knew of as the beginning of legendary lure maker
WD Chapman just from this short exeprt. I myself am no expert in the aforementioned subject matter, I'm
just a dabbler in the history of the lure makers I've known to appreciate
and enjoy. My true goal being in hopes that some of the little acorns I've found along the way
will help those more learned than myself paint a even more complete picture
for the myriad of fishing lure collectors to enjoy.
 
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