Very big float!

[no-one in particular]

I know this is not what most of you are into. However, thought you may like to take a look, I have never seen the like myself before. The floats on the left are massive, must be some big pike or perch wherever this bloke fished!, I found them in a old antique shop and the bloke wanted a tenner the lot but I got them for £7.

 

[Aknib]

Interesting collection of floats Mark, especially the 'gazette' bungs.

Will you do them up?

 

[tigger]

I used to use the old pike bungs in various sizes for piking. They would bob about constantly as a live bait swam round but the bait fish was unable to pull the bung under. You knew it was a take when it went under. Is usually re appeared shortly after as the bite developed. We always used to give the pike half a minuite or so before striking back in the day.

 

[Philip]

Nice find Mark. The one second from the left looks like a pattern i see quite often being used by pike and Zander anglers over in France. The pike bungs actually could have a place in modern fishing i recon...they offer a very quick and easy way to create pop up or sunken float rigs without having to break everything down to thread on a polyball or in line float.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

The three rotund floats are Fishing Gazette style pike bungs.

They will I’ll look great for a rub down and repaint.

 

[no-one in particular]

The three rotund floats are Fishing Gazette style pike bungs.

They will I’ll look great for a rub down and repaint.

What is Fishing Gazette style Peter? I think I have heard the term somewhere but cant think where.

 

[no-one in particular]

Interesting collection of floats Mark, especially the 'gazette' bungs.

Will you do them up?

Not sure yet Aknib, might keep them, sell them on in an auction with some other old stuff I have, or keep them in my case, I sort of like them, especially the big one, bit of a novelty. I don't pike fish very much, hardly ever in fact, I could use them sea fishing maybe but I doubt it, prefer something ordinary for that.I will definitely keep the fluted one and the quill, always wanted a fluted float, quite like them.
Doing them up, I am not very good at that, they are cork and wood as far as I can make out, the big one on the left looks to have been made up of layers of cork which you can't tell from the picture, I can just make out the joins; must be quite a lot of work went into that..
The paint is too think to rub off, it would take too long and I might break them in the process, I was thinking of paint stripper, they all could do with removing the old paint first, what would you advise just in case I do decide to have a go myself.?

 

[Aknib]

The paint is too think to rub off, it would take too long and I might break them in the process, I was thinking of paint stripper, they all could do with removing the old paint first, what would you advise just in case I do decide to have a go myself.?

I'd be tempted to retain some of their provenance, just remove any loose paint and simply over paint them, it won't be a perfect finish but that's the idea... A nice, newly painted float which retains something from its earlier life and holds some character

The term 'gazette bung' was a phrase coined as those type of floats became archetypal of what you would typically see on fishing publication covers and in articles many years ago.

 

[no-one in particular]

I also picked this up for £3.50 in a charity shop. I just thought it was very well painted and it reminded me of so many rivers I have fished, it captures that atmosphere in my opinion. I can just imagine a 3lb roach leaping out of it.

 

[flightliner]

Mark, If that's a painting and not a print you have a real bargain !

 

[tigger]

It looks like 22/333 so if it's a painting the artists hand will be worn out !

 

[theartist]

It's a print guys, but it is a limited edition. The larger number is the total number of copies the print is limited to the small number is which one this is, so there's only 333 of these in existence. Not as good as an original but well worth £3.50 of anyones money. If the artist can be researched and is famous then it's worth more but probably not a lot given there's over 300.

It would be worth finding out the artist and the river in question just for curiosity, as he/she has taken time to paint it and it could have a good story, 333 is a weird number to limit a run to as well

 

[tigger]

Maybe the 333 has a connection with 666....could be cursed mg:

 

[no-one in particular]

=flightliner;1517266]Mark, If that's a painting and not a print you have a real bargain ![/QUOTE]
Not sure at the moment Flight, didn't think to look. I think its a picture, when I get home I will take a closer look under the magnifying glass. Nice picture though, nothing fancy just captures a river nicely in my anglers eye. I will get it re-framed sometime.
Just read the rest of these posts so, probably a print, I will check. Funny enough, had a bit of luck with prints recently, one I bought for £3 went for auction for $66 according to a google search. A 1876 plate from a old book. I will do some goggling of this, let you know what I find, but I just love the picture whatever it is.
View attachment 8333[QUOTE

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Mark, the Fishing Gazette was a weekly publication that covered sea, coarse and game fishing with weekly results from around the country and was inaugurated in 1877 (date needs checking)

It was the first weekly publication if its type and very much the forefunner of the angling papers of today.

 

[theartist]

Auction houses and antique shops get lots of these types of books come in, they get bought by traders who cut out the plates and sell them individually for profit.

Also be wary of a work of art selling for x amount as no two are the same and the market changes even in similar prints, there are certain numbers that have more value and also some provinence is often key, without it it could be worth much less

 

[no-one in particular]

The bird print is from Ornithological miscellany /Date 1876, plate V1. This was a set of three books that in good condition auction for a lot of money, I think £2.000/£8.000 I saw somewhere. An unframed plate/print went for $66 dollars somewhere, this one is faded but who knows, a collector on a good day in a fair wind. The river picture is a print (tiny pixels under a magnifying glass) and I cannot make out the signature, either on the picture or what is written in pencil beneath it. It looks like J. Hidte or something like that but nothing coming up on google.
I might take these along to my next auction just see if they reckon any value but not bothered, I like them both, especially the river one and can hang on my wall.
I will take Aknib's advice with the floats and clean them up loosely and give them paint. Same thing, might take them next time I visit the auction just to see. I have some rods to go and quite a few other bits and pieces, books etc so take the lot and see what’s what but, I am not bothered about some of it, just interesting to find out.
Thanks for all the interest and advice.