Collecting Antique Fishing Lures

For those interested in getting started learning about collecting fishing lures, by first suggestion is to read about it first before heading down to your local antique auction sale, or to a fishing tackle trade show. Why because it is very easy to be swayed by old fishing lures and land up paying more then their "true value". Just because a fishing lure is old doesn't mean it it'll fetch top dollar.

That is why I highly recommend you get a couple of the books suggested belowand get acquainted with everything you can learn about the hobby of collecting antique fishing lures.

Learn First Buy Second Holds very true when it comes to buying old fishing lures, this will save you from getting burned in the end.

My first suggestion is As a beginner, you have no business buying any old fishing lure priced over $30 until you have attended at least one major tackle show.

My first rule of thumb is Learn to Know what the authentic paint is and what a repaint looks like.

Carry with you a small pocket Uv light and a 10x magnifying loop on you at all times. This will help in identifying "repaints" and cracks and flakes which help grade the fishing lure. If you learn one thing then this is it, learn to identify original authentic paint jobs.

With that said here are a few pointers in keeping and maintaining your collections once you start.

• Store the antique fishing lures in an area away from strong natural or artificial light. This light will affect the quality of the painted surface over time, reducing the value of the piece.


• Put the fishing lures in a humidity-controlled area to prevent foxing and rust. Maintain a good airflow around the lures and keep the humidity around 70 percent.


• Keep your collection safe store them locked in a fire-proof safe for protection from fire and theft.


• Insects can be a real problem with boxes. Store them carefully and do not use commercial insecticides any where near your old fishing lures and boxes. In fact do not store your collection near any chemicals period. You don't want to risk a chance spill.

Learning to grade antique fishing lures is crucial if you want to insure you pay the right price for an old fishing lure. But, everyone has difficulty grading old fishing lures because grading really is subjective.

Visual values vary considerably from person to person But will add being "old" is no excuse for poor condition. I don't know how many time I've heard a guy say in a trade show, "these lures are over 80 years old you know, so you have to expect a few chips and scrapes".

My response to that is ," Well that may be true but but the price will have to adjust for any chips and scrapes. If you've got chips and scrapes, then we are not talking about excellent condition or excellent prices now are we?"

Here's a breakdown of some of the terms and grades of old vintage fishing lures.

Mint or New In The Box: Mint means exactly that, perfect, untouched, new, unfished.Mint is new from the factory. New! No flaws whatever, even the varnish is still completely clear.

Excellent : Excellent means an almost brand new lure. It has some minor, and I do mean minor, defects like tiny pointers or tiny varnish flake or two. Most of these lures will as well never have seen the water. Excellent means there is nothing missing in the paint, and the varnish is still clear.

Very Good. One major element that will down grade a lure will be the quality of its paint. Paints chips being the major cause of an old fishing lure being down graded to very good. Now every good also means that the fishing lure isn't riddled with them either, very good means exactly that, very good. A few paint chips, light foxing in the varnish, a few cracks and lines in the varnish.

Good to Average Large areas of varnish flakes, scrapes and pointers in the wood. A pointer is a small indentation made by the hook in the lure body, any more then a few would place place the lure in this grade.

Anything less then this falls into Poor to Average at best and is best avoided by the serious collector.

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