ChoveyRoller
Member
Thanks to everybody for the replies...... very interesting. I went to the Down East website and saw that they were similar but all of their models had their brand name on them, so I emailed them the pics and I received this response today..........
Dear KH
That rod holder is a Japanese knockoff of ours. I can tell by the picture of the fish, ours have our name on them.
They somehow copied our design and sold these for a brief period back in the mid-60’s.
They copied them with such detail that even the few minor surface defects in our molds are in their castings. We machined off the defects so we are not too sure how they got our original molds.
I have one of these in my office along with the Korean copy from the 1980’s made by C.S. Brown. Reminders of design confidentiality.
You have a rare find! I have only ever seen a few of these in person.
None of these companies could compete because of their shoddy workmanship.
Thank-you for your e-mail.
If you have any questions please let me know.
Sincerely,
Down-East Sportscraft, Inc.
258 Russell Street
Lewiston, ME 04240
Tel: 1-800-553-7323
Fax: 207-783-0421
website: www.Down-East.com
There it is! Japanese spies stealing fishing equipment designs in the 60’s.... sounds like it would make for a great made for TV movie for the fishing channel. Thanks again to everyone. Pretty amazing that in 12 hours there were 20 responses to the topic. SFBC is awesome!
P.S The purple Sasquatch is actually an artificial tropical tree stump in one of my terrariums that I am building for some of my poison dart frogs LOL
Dear KH
That rod holder is a Japanese knockoff of ours. I can tell by the picture of the fish, ours have our name on them.
They somehow copied our design and sold these for a brief period back in the mid-60’s.
They copied them with such detail that even the few minor surface defects in our molds are in their castings. We machined off the defects so we are not too sure how they got our original molds.
I have one of these in my office along with the Korean copy from the 1980’s made by C.S. Brown. Reminders of design confidentiality.
You have a rare find! I have only ever seen a few of these in person.
None of these companies could compete because of their shoddy workmanship.
Thank-you for your e-mail.
If you have any questions please let me know.
Sincerely,
Down-East Sportscraft, Inc.
258 Russell Street
Lewiston, ME 04240
Tel: 1-800-553-7323
Fax: 207-783-0421
website: www.Down-East.com
There it is! Japanese spies stealing fishing equipment designs in the 60’s.... sounds like it would make for a great made for TV movie for the fishing channel. Thanks again to everyone. Pretty amazing that in 12 hours there were 20 responses to the topic. SFBC is awesome!
P.S The purple Sasquatch is actually an artificial tropical tree stump in one of my terrariums that I am building for some of my poison dart frogs LOL
