Thomas Turner
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Well what can I say, our Thomas Turner valuation day turned out to be another great success that was held at Sportfish Game Fishing Centre, Reading on Saturday 29th April. As we arrived at the venue, there were cars in front of us waiting for the Sportfish staff to open the car park gates! I spoke to a few customers in the car park and invited them into our valuation room held in one of the upstairs offices. This is a lovely location to hold this event as it overlooks the trout lake.
One of the lakes at Sportfish Game Fishing Centre
We opened for business so to speak at around 9:30am and the first chap through the door brought a nice collection of six Sharpe’s Scottie salmon and fly rods all in their original cloth rod bags plus a host of other reels, all passed down to him from his grandfather. A few minutes later the deal was done, and we hauled this lovely collection of tackle back down the stairs and into the back of my car. Walking down the stairs I then noticed just how many cars had pulled up in the car park. As I walked to my car a number of people asked where to go for the valuation day. At this point I was thinking I needed some kind of queue system like you get in the supermarkets where you take your ticket and wait for your number to be called! After saying goodbye to our first customer I walked to each car to check if they were waiting for me or waiting for the Sportfish shop to open. All were waiting for me! I explained that they might have a bit of a wait and all didn’t seem to mind, so slowly, I worked my way through each car boot buying lots of nice tackle!
To name a few great purchases, we bought several Hardy Perfects, from the small 2 7/8” narrow drum up to a lovely Salmon Perfect with its original line guard. The same seller had a lovely collection of Abu 5 and 6000’s all in their original cases. We also bought well when it came to rods, a nice collection of Orvis Helios rods in their original tubes as well as the usual Hardy and Salmon fly rods. Another chap appeared from his car with a few nice reels to include a rare Hardy 3 7/8” Perfect with the handle positioned towards the centre of the reel. I have seen these before and they are quite rare.
By the time I had finished, after the first initial rush, I was greeted by a nice chocolate doughnut bought by our colleague Richard Hewitt, which, even if I do say so myself, was well deserved! There was a steady trickle of customers throughout the afternoon and just as we were about to pack up our last customer brought in some lovely Scott Mackenzie G2 rods in their original’s cases with some modern Hardy reels. What a way to finish off a fantastic day!
Later in the day, we had the pleasure of chatting to Susan Skrupa and her team who run The Mayfly Project UK. They are a charity organisation that uses fly fishing as a catalyst to mentor children in foster care. Their mission is to support children in foster care through fly fishing and introduce them to their local water ecosystems, with a hope that connecting them to a rewarding hobby will provide an opportunity for foster children to have fun, feel supported, and develop a meaningful connection with the outdoors. We watched them throughout the day, working with the children and they were all fantastic and the kids looked like they had a great time! It was great to see them so enthusiastic about this great sport. If you want to find out more, or wish to donate to this fantastic charity – visit their website www.themayflyproject.com/london-united-kingdom-project/
As always we want to say a big thank you to Jonathan Randall and his team at Sportfish for welcoming us again and we look forward to going back for our third Valuation day at Sportfish in the Autumn.
The post Sportfish valuation day update! appeared first on Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques.
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One of the lakes at Sportfish Game Fishing Centre
We opened for business so to speak at around 9:30am and the first chap through the door brought a nice collection of six Sharpe’s Scottie salmon and fly rods all in their original cloth rod bags plus a host of other reels, all passed down to him from his grandfather. A few minutes later the deal was done, and we hauled this lovely collection of tackle back down the stairs and into the back of my car. Walking down the stairs I then noticed just how many cars had pulled up in the car park. As I walked to my car a number of people asked where to go for the valuation day. At this point I was thinking I needed some kind of queue system like you get in the supermarkets where you take your ticket and wait for your number to be called! After saying goodbye to our first customer I walked to each car to check if they were waiting for me or waiting for the Sportfish shop to open. All were waiting for me! I explained that they might have a bit of a wait and all didn’t seem to mind, so slowly, I worked my way through each car boot buying lots of nice tackle!
To name a few great purchases, we bought several Hardy Perfects, from the small 2 7/8” narrow drum up to a lovely Salmon Perfect with its original line guard. The same seller had a lovely collection of Abu 5 and 6000’s all in their original cases. We also bought well when it came to rods, a nice collection of Orvis Helios rods in their original tubes as well as the usual Hardy and Salmon fly rods. Another chap appeared from his car with a few nice reels to include a rare Hardy 3 7/8” Perfect with the handle positioned towards the centre of the reel. I have seen these before and they are quite rare.
By the time I had finished, after the first initial rush, I was greeted by a nice chocolate doughnut bought by our colleague Richard Hewitt, which, even if I do say so myself, was well deserved! There was a steady trickle of customers throughout the afternoon and just as we were about to pack up our last customer brought in some lovely Scott Mackenzie G2 rods in their original’s cases with some modern Hardy reels. What a way to finish off a fantastic day!
Later in the day, we had the pleasure of chatting to Susan Skrupa and her team who run The Mayfly Project UK. They are a charity organisation that uses fly fishing as a catalyst to mentor children in foster care. Their mission is to support children in foster care through fly fishing and introduce them to their local water ecosystems, with a hope that connecting them to a rewarding hobby will provide an opportunity for foster children to have fun, feel supported, and develop a meaningful connection with the outdoors. We watched them throughout the day, working with the children and they were all fantastic and the kids looked like they had a great time! It was great to see them so enthusiastic about this great sport. If you want to find out more, or wish to donate to this fantastic charity – visit their website www.themayflyproject.com/london-united-kingdom-project/
As always we want to say a big thank you to Jonathan Randall and his team at Sportfish for welcoming us again and we look forward to going back for our third Valuation day at Sportfish in the Autumn.
The post Sportfish valuation day update! appeared first on Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques.
Continue reading...